Tratamiento de soporte respiratorio de la COVID-19. Papel de las unidades de cuidados respiratorios intermedios / COVID-19 respiratory support treatment. Role of the intermediate respiratory care units

El COVID-19 se relaciona con el desarrollo de un síndrome de distrés respiratorio, en muchos casos con insuficiencia respiratoria aguda grave. Ante la falta de disponibilidad o la ausencia de criterios para ingreso en las unidades de cuidados intensivos (UCI) de estos pacientes, los neumólogos han tenido que reinventar la indicación y el modo de uso de las terapias de soporte respiratorio no invasivo (TSRNI), y con ello las unidades de cuidados respiratorios intermedios atendidas por neumólogos. La presencia de estas unidades ha sido un factor determinante de la mortalidad por COVID-19, puesto que han permitido indicar ventilación mecánica no invasiva, presión positiva continua en vía aérea y/o terapia de alto flujo, además de la oxigenoterapia convencional, bajo estricta monitorización en un ambiente fuera de las UCI. Con esta revisión, nos hemos propuesto describir y analizar la evidencia disponible en cuanto al uso de las TSRNI en la COVID-19

COVID-19 leads to the development of a respiratory distress syndrome, in many cases including a severe hypoxemic respiratory failure. Due to the lack of Intensive Care Units (ICU) beds, or the absence of criteria to receive some patients, pulmonologists have had to rethink the indications and use of the noninvasive support respiratory therapies (NSRT), and the intermediate respiratory intensive care units (IRCU) managed by pulmonologists. The creation of these units has been a determinant factor of the mortality due to COVID-19, since support respiratory techniques like noninvasive mechanical ventilation, continuous airway positive pressure or high flow therapy, besides conventional oxygen therapy, have been indicated and strictly monitored even in the absence of an ICU room. In this paper, we attempt to describe and analyze the available evidence of the use of NSRT in patients with COVID-19

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en pacientes oncológicos con enfermedad tromboembólica venosa aguda sintomática. Diseño del estudio qca (quality of life in cancer). Estudio de casos y controles / Health-related quality of life in cancer patients with acute symptomatic venous thromboembolic disease. Design of the QCa (quality of life in cancer) study. Case-control study

La asociación entre cáncer y enfermedad tromboembólica (ETV) se encuentra bien establecida. La ETV presenta una elevada morbimortalidad, objetivándose un incremento del riesgo de ETV hasta 4 veces mayor en aquellos pacientes con cáncer respecto a la población general. Sin embargo, existe poca evidencia científica sobre la CVRS (calidad de vida relacionada con la salud) en pacientes oncológicos con ETV, cuando es presumible que esta patología suponga un agravante sobre la percepción del estado de salud de los pacientes oncológicos. Nuestro objetivo es presentar el estudio "QCa Study", el cual pretende evaluar la CVRS de los pacientes oncológicos con ETV aguda sintomática en comparación con pacientes oncológicos sin ETV. "QCa study" es un estudio nacional de cohortes, prospectivo, de casos y controles en pacientes con cáncer activo. Definimos "caso" como aquel paciente oncológico con ETV aguda sintomática, y "control" aquel paciente oncológico sin ETV aguda sintomática. Los criterios de inclusión son: para los casos: presentar cáncer activo al momento de la inclusión. Tener más de 18 años, pacientes diagnosticados de trombosis venosa profunda (TVP) en miembros inferiores aguda sintomática o de embolia de pulmón (EP) confirmado de forma objetiva mediante pruebas de imagen y firma del consentimiento informado. Para los controles; presentar cáncer activo. Tener más de 18 años. Firma del consentimiento informado. Dado los escasos datos publicados respecto a la CVRS en pacientes con ETV, hemos diseñado el estudio Qca, para poder determinar el impacto que genera la ETV en la calidad de vida de los pacientes con cáncer

The association between cancer and venous thromboembolic disease (VTD) is well established. VTD presents a high rate of morbidity and mortality, with patients with cancer showing an increased risk of VTD that is up to 4 times greater than the general population. However, there is little scientific evidence on HRQoL (health-related quality of life) in cancer patients with VTD when this disease is likely to be an aggravating factor in perceived state of health among cancer patients. Our objective is to present the QCa study, which aims to evaluate the HRQoL of cancer patients with acute symptomatic VTD in comparison with cancer patients without VTD. The QCa study is a prospective, case-control national cohort study in patients with active cancer. We define "case" as a cancer patient with acute symptomatic VTD and "control" as a cancer patient without acute symptomatic VTD. Inclusion criteria for cases were: having active cancer at the time of inclusion, being over the age of 18, patients diagnosed with acute symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the lower extremities or pulmonary embolism (EP) that was objectively confirmed through imaging tests, and having signed the informed consent. For the controls: having active cancer, being over the age of 18, and having signed the informed consent. Given the scarce data published with regard to HRQoL in patients with VTD, we designed the QCa study to determine the impact VTD has on the quality of life of patients with cancer

Phase space determination from measured dose data for intraoperative electron radiation therapy.

A procedure to characterize beams of a medical linear accelerator for their use in Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations for intraoperative electron radiation therapy (IOERT) is presented. The procedure relies on dose measurements in homogeneous media as input, avoiding the need for detailed simulations of the accelerator head. An iterative algorithm (EM-ML) has been employed to extract the relevant details of the phase space (PHSP) of the particles coming from the accelerator, such as energy spectra, spatial distribution and angle of emission of particles. The algorithm can use pre-computed dose volumes in water and/or air, so that the machine-specific tuning with actual data can be performed in a few minutes. To test the procedure, MC simulations of a linear accelerator with typical IOERT applicators and energies, have been performed and taken as reference. A solution PHSP derived from the dose produced by the simulated accelerator has been compared to the reference PHSP. Further, dose delivered by the simulated accelerator for setups not included in the fit of the PHSP were compared to the ones derived from the solution PHSP. The results show that it is possible to derive from dose measurements PHSP accurate for IOERT MC dose estimations.

Simulation of triple coincidences in PET.

Although current PET scanners are designed and optimized to detect double coincidence events, there is a significant amount of triple coincidences in any PET acquisition. Triple coincidences may arise from causes such as: inter-detector scatter (IDS), random triple interactions (RT), or the detection of prompt gamma rays in coincidence with annihilation photons when non-pure positron-emitting radionuclides are used (ß(+)γ events). Depending on the data acquisition settings of the PET scanner, these triple events are discarded or processed as a set of double coincidences if the energy of the three detected events is within the scanner's energy window. This latter option introduces noise in the data, as at most, only one of the possible lines-of-response defined by triple interactions corresponds to the line along which the decay occurred. Several novel works have pointed out the possibility of using triple events to increase the sensitivity of PET scanners or to expand PET imaging capabilities by allowing differentiation between radiotracers labeled with non-pure and pure positron-emitting radionuclides. In this work, we extended the Monte Carlo simulator PeneloPET to assess the proportion of triple coincidences in PET acquisitions and to evaluate their possible applications. We validated the results of the simulator against experimental data acquired with a modified version of a commercial preclinical PET/CT scanner, which was enabled to acquire and process triple-coincidence events. We used as figures of merit the energy spectra for double and triple coincidences and the triples-to-doubles ratio for different energy windows and radionuclides. After validation, the simulator was used to predict the relative quantity of triple-coincidence events in two clinical scanners assuming different acquisition settings. Good agreement between simulations and preclinical experiments was found, with differences below 10% for most of the observables considered. For clinical scanners and pure positron emitters, we found that around 10% of the processed double events come from triple coincidences, increasing this ratio substantially for non-pure emitters (around 25% for (124)I and > 50% for (86)Y). For radiotracers labeled with (18)F we found that the relative quantity of IDS events in standard acquisitions is around 18% for the preclinical scanner and between 14 and 22% for the clinical scanners. For non-pure positron emitters like (124)I, we found a ß(+)γ triples-to-doubles ratio of 2.5% in the preclinical scanner and of up to 4% in the clinical scanners.

Improved dead-time correction for PET scanners: application to small-animal PET.

Pile-up and dead-time are two main causes of nonlinearity in the response of a PET scanner as a function of activity in the field of view (FOV). For a given scanner and acquisition system, pile-up effects depend on the material and size of the object being imaged and on the distribution of activity inside and outside the FOV, because these factors change the singles-to-coincidences ratio (SCR). Thus, it is difficult to devise an accurate correction that would be valid for any acquisition. In this work, we demonstrate a linear relationship between SCR and effective dead-time, which measures the effects of both dead-time (losses) and pile-up (gains and losses). This relationship allows us to propose a simple method to accurately estimate dead-time and pile-up corrections using only two calibration acquisitions with, respectively, a high and low SCR. The method has been tested with simulations and experimental data for two different scanner geometries: a scanner with large area detectors and no pile-up rejection, and a scanner composed of two full rings of smaller detectors. Our results show that the SCR correction method is accurate within 7%, even for high activities in the FOV, and avoids the bias of the standard single-parameter method.

Proyecto UCI sin paredes. Efecto de la detección precoz de los pacientes de riesgo / ICU without walls project. Effect of the early detection of patients at risk

Objetivos Describir y evaluar la repercusión de un sistema de detección e intervención precoz en pacientes de riesgo fuera de la UCI en la evolución de los pacientes ingresados en UCI y el número de paradas cardiorrespiratorias (PCR) hospitalarias. Ámbito Hospital de nivel 2 en la Comunidad de Madrid con historia clínica electrónica. Métodos Un intensivista revisa cada uno de los pacientes que cumplan los criterios de inclusión y decide la necesidad o no de intervención. Posteriormente, junto al médico a cargo del paciente, se determina cuál es el nivel de cuidados que necesita y se decide la pauta a seguir a continuación. Diseño Estudio descriptivo y cuasi-experimental «before-after». Resultados En el periodo de estudio se intervino en un total de 202 pacientes. Ciento cuarenta y siete fueron incluidos tras detectarse analíticas alteradas a través de nuestro programa informático. En el periodo de control la mortalidad en UCI fue 9 frente al 4,4% en el periodo de intervención (p=0,03). En el análisis multivariable, los 2 factores que guardaron relación significativa con la mortalidad fueron el haber ingresado durante el periodo de intervención OR 0,42 (IC95%; 0,18 a 0,98) (p=0,04) y el SAPS 3 OR 1,11 (IC95%; 1,07 a 1,14) (p<0,05). El número de avisos por PCR en el periodo control fue 10 frente 3 en el periodo de intervención (p=0,07).Conclusiones La actividad de detección precoz de pacientes en riesgo fuera de la UCI puede producir un efecto beneficioso sobre los pacientes ingresados en UCI así como una reducción de las PCR hospitalarias (AU)

Objectives To describe and evaluate the impact of a system for early detection and intervention in patients at risk outside the ICU upon the outcome of patients admitted to the ICU and the number of cases of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest. Setting A second-level hospital in the Community of Madrid (Spain) with electronic clinical histories Methods An intensivist reviewed each of the patients meeting the inclusion criteria, and decided the need or not for intervention. Posteriorly, in collaboration with the physician supervising the patient, the needed level of care was decided, along with the subsequent management protocol. Design A descriptive and quasi-experimental “before-after” study was made. Results A total of 202 patients were intervened during the study period, With the inclusion of 147 after detecting altered laboratory test results through our software application. During the control period, the mortality rate in the ICU was 9%, versus 4.4% during the intervention period (P=.03). In the multivariate analysis, the two factors significantly related to mortality were admission during the intervention period (OR=0.42; 95%CI: 0.18-0.98; P=.04) and SAPS 3 (OR=1.11; 95%CI: 1.07-1.14; P<0.05). There were 10 cardiopulmonary arrest alerts during the control period, versus three in the intervention period (P=.07).Conclusions Early detection activities in patients at risk outside the ICU can have beneficial effects upon the patients admitted to the ICU, and can contribute to reduce the number of hospital cardiopulmonary arrests (AU)

ICU without walls project. Effect of the early detection of patients at risk.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and evaluate the impact of a system for early detection and intervention in patients at risk outside the ICU upon the outcome of patients admitted to the ICU and the number of cases of hospital cardiopulmonary arrest. SETTING: A second-level hospital in the Community of Madrid (Spain) with electronic clinical histories. METHODS: An intensivist reviewed each of the patients meeting the inclusion criteria, and decided the need or not for intervention. Posteriorly, in collaboration with the physician supervising the patient, the needed level of care was decided, along with the subsequent management protocol. DESIGN: A descriptive and quasi-experimental "before-after" study was made. RESULTS: A total of 202 patients were intervened during the study period, With the inclusion of 147 after detecting altered laboratory test results through our software application. During the control period, the mortality rate in the ICU was 9%, versus 4.4% during the intervention period (P=.03). In the multivariate analysis, the two factors significantly related to mortality were admission during the intervention period (OR=0.42; 95%CI: 0.18-0.98; P=.04) and SAPS 3 (OR=1.11; 95%CI: 1.07-1.14; P<0.05). There were 10 cardiopulmonary arrest alerts during the control period, versus three in the intervention period (P=.07). CONCLUSIONS: Early detection activities in patients at risk outside the ICU can have beneficial effects upon the patients admitted to the ICU, and can contribute to reduce the number of hospital cardiopulmonary arrests.

Implantación de un sistema de gestión en Medicina Intensiva basado en la seguridad del paciente gravemente enfermo durante todo el proceso de hospitalización: servicio extendido de Medicina Intensiva / No disponible

Los cuidados clínicos del paciente gravemente enfermo hospitalizado deben ser adecuadamente proporcionados independientemente de la unidad funcional en la que esté ingresado. La mayoría de estos enfermos se encuentran ingresados en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos (UCI), donde se aseguran sus cuidados de forma ininterrumpida, con un elevado nivel tecnológico y asistencial. Sin embargo, la hospitalización del enfermo grave debe ser entendida como un continuo, que empieza y termina más allá de ella. Anticiparse al empeoramiento crítico que obligue al ingreso en la UCI supondría un beneficio para el enfermo, evitando un mayor empeoramiento clínico, y un beneficio para la institución hospitalaria, permitiendo gestionar mejor sus recursos. El médico intensivista es el más adecuado para este propósito, al estar entrenado en el reconocimiento de la gravedad de una situación clínica siempre dinámica. Y desempeñar esta labor significa un cambio en la forma de trabajo tradicional de la UCI, porque el enfermo crítico ya no es solo aquel ingresado en la Unidad sino cualquier enfermo ingresado en el hospital cuya condición clínica se esté inestabilizando. En este contexto, nuestra UCI ha establecido dos líneas estratégicas. La primera consiste en la identificación de los pacientes de riesgo fuera de la Unidad y está basada en el reconocimiento, orientación diagnóstica y tratamiento temprano del paciente grave, en colaboración con otras especialidades clínicas e independientemente de su lugar de hospitalización. La segunda consiste en la atención clínica dentro de la propia Unidad y está basada en el fomento de la cultura de seguridad y la vigilancia de la infección nosocomial (AU)

Abstract The clinical care of hospitalized seriously ill patients must be suitably proportionate independently of the functional unit to which they have been admitted. Most of these patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where uninterrupted management is provided, with important technological and care resources. However, hospitalization of the seriously ill patient must be understood as a continuum starting and ending beyond hospital stay. Anticipating critical worsening requiring admission to the ICU would be of benefit to the patient, avoiding greater clinical worsening, and also would be of benefit to the hospital, by allowing improved resource management. Intensivists are the professionals best suited for this purpose, since they are trained to recognize the seriousness of an always dynamic clinical situation. Addressing this task implies achange in the traditional way of working of the ICU, since a critical patient is not only a patient already admitted to the Unit but also any other patient admitted to hospital whose clinical situation is becoming destabilized. In this context, our ICU has established two strategic lines. One consists of the identification of patients at risk outside the Unit and is based on the recognition, diagnostic orientation and early treatment of the seriously ill patient, in collaboration with other clinical specialties and independently of the hospital area to which the patient has been admitted. The second line in turn comprises clinical care within the actual Unit, and is based on the promotion of safety and the vigilance of nosocomial infections (AU)

[Introduction of a management system in intensive care medicine based on the safety of the seriously ill patient during the entire hospitalization process: extended intensive care medicine]. / Implantación de un sistema de gestión en Medicina Intensiva basado en la seguridad del paciente gravemente enfermo durante todo el proceso de hospitalización: servicio extendido de Medicina Intensiva.

The clinical care of hospitalized seriously ill patients must be suitably proportionate independently of the functional unit to which they have been admitted. Most of these patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where uninterrupted management is provided, with important technological and care resources. However, hospitalization of the seriously ill patient must be understood as a continuum starting and ending beyond hospital stay. Anticipating critical worsening requiring admission to the ICU would be of benefit to the patient, avoiding greater clinical worsening, and also would be of benefit to the hospital, by allowing improved resource management. Intensivists are the professionals best suited for this purpose, since they are trained to recognize the seriousness of an always dynamic clinical situation. Addressing this task implies a change in the traditional way of working of the ICU, since a critical patient is not only a patient already admitted to the Unit but also any other patient admitted to hospital whose clinical situation is becoming destabilized. In this context, our ICU has established two strategic lines. One consists of the identification of patients at risk outside the Unit and is based on the recognition, diagnostic orientation and early treatment of the seriously ill patient, in collaboration with other clinical specialties and independently of the hospital area to which the patient has been admitted. The second line in turn comprises clinical care within the actual Unit, and is based on the promotion of safety and the vigilance of nosocomial infections.

Toxicidad pulmonar por hiperoxia / Hyperoxia induced pulmonary toxicity

La ventilación mecánica es capaz de producir y agravar el daño pulmonar y contribuir a la aparición de fracaso multiorgánico. Uno de los mecanismos descritos es la hiperoxia alveolar que, en modelos experimentales, conlleva una producción de radicales libres de oxígeno (O2) que exceden las posibilidades de defensa celular, y dan lugar a inflamación, a sobreexpresión genética y a daño celular directo con fenómenos de necrosis y apoptosis. Los hallazgos en humanos no son tan concluyentes, sí está claramente demostrada una alteración funcional debida a la exposición a la fracción inspiratoria de O2 (FiO2) elevada y a un mayor desreclutamiento pulmonar en los pacientes con lesión pulmonar, y que tanto la FiO2 empleada como la presión arterial de oxígeno conseguida en las primeras 24h de ingreso están relacionadas con la mortalidad. Sería necesario realizar ensayos clínicos que evalúen cuál es el umbral de la FiO2 y de la saturación de O2 seguro (AU)

Mechanical ventilation may cause and aggravate lung damage and contribute to the appearance of multiorgan failure. One of the mechanisms that has been described is alveolar hyperoxia. In experimental models, it has lead to the production of free oxygen radicals that exceed the cell defense capacity, giving rise to inflammation, cell damage and gene overexpression with necrosis and apoptosis phenomenon. However, these findings in humans are not as conclusive, although a functional alteration due to the exposure to high FiO2, and greater lung de-recruitment in patients with lung injury has been clearly demonstrated. Moreover, both the FiO2 used as well as the PaO2 achieved in the first 24h of admission are associated with mortality. Clinical trials are needed that assess the threshold of the safe oxygen level for FiO2 and oxygen saturation (AU)

[Hyperoxia-induced pulmonary toxicity]. / Toxicidad pulmonar por hiperoxia.

Mechanical ventilation may cause and aggravate lung damage and contribute to the appearance of multiorgan failure. One of the mechanisms that has been described is alveolar hyperoxia. In experimental models, it has lead to the production of free oxygen radicals that exceed the cell defense capacity, giving rise to inflammation, cell damage and gene overexpression with necrosis and apoptosis phenomenon. However, these findings in humans are not as conclusive, although a functional alteration due to the exposure to high FiO(2), and greater lung de-recruitment in patients with lung injury has been clearly demonstrated. Moreover, both the FiO(2) used as well as the PaO(2) achieved in the first 24h of admission are associated with mortality. Clinical trials are needed that assess the threshold of the safe oxygen level for FiO(2) and oxygen saturation.

Gene expression analysis of normal appearing brain tissue in an animal model for multiple sclerosis revealed grey matter alterations, but only minor white matter changes.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent studies suggest that, beside focal lesions, diffuse inflammatory and degenerative processes take place throughout the MS brain. Especially, molecular alterations in the so-called normal appearing white matter suggest the induction of neuroprotective mechanisms against oxidative stress preserving cellular homeostasis and function. In this study we investigated whether in an animal model for MS, namely in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), similar changes occur. We isolated normal appearing white and grey matter from the corpus callosum and the above lying cerebral cortex from DA rats with rMOG-induced EAE and carried out a gene expression analysis. Examination of corpus callosum revealed only minor changes in EAE rats. In contrast, we identified a number of gene expression alterations in the cerebral cortex even though morphological and cellular alterations were not evident. One of the most striking observations was the downregulation of genes involved in mitochondrial function as well as a whole set of genes coding for different glutamate receptors. Our data imply that molecular alterations are present in neurons far distant to inflammatory demyelinating lesions. These alterations might reflect degenerative processes induced by lesion-mediated axonal injury in the spinal cord. Our results indicate that the MOG-induced EAE in DA rats is a valuable model to analyze neuronal alterations due to axonal impairment in an acute phase of a MS-like disease, and could be used for development of neuroprotective strategies.

Falsa imagen de neumotórax en radiografía simple / No disponible

No disponible

[Mechanical ventilation induced lung injury]. / Lesión pulmonar inducida por la ventilación mecánica.

Mechanical ventilation is associated with important complications, among which production or perpetuation of acute lung injury and product of distant organ injuries of the lung basically through the release of inflammatory mediators to the systemic circulation. There is increasingly greater evidence in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models that show the reality of this lesional mechanism. The main lesional mechanisms are both stretching and rupture of the lung structures (volutrauma) and cyclical opening and closure of the closed alveolar zones (atelectrauma). Studies on the use of protective lung ventilation strategies have shown a beneficial effect in patients with ARDS of the use of open lung ventilation strategies, use of circulating volumes less than 10 ml/kg and of maintaining alveolar pressure under 30 cm of H2O. It should be investigated if these same strategies would be useful in preventing the appearance of ARDS in mechanically ventilated patients for another reason, basically in those with risk factors for the development of this condition.