The impact of frailty on noninvasive mechanical ventilation in elderly medical intensive care unit patients.

AIM: Many factors affecting noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in critically ill patients have been reported in the literature, but there is no study about the effect of frailty. With this study, the frailty prevalence was evaluated with two different frailty scores among the NIV population of a medical intensive care unit (ICU). Besides, the impact of frailty on NIV success and mortality and its association with NIV application problems were evaluated. METHOD: A prospective observational cohort study was performed on patients who were over 50 years of age and assigned to NIV due to hypercapnic respiratory failure. For the assessment of frailty, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and The Edmonton Frailty Scale (EFS) were used and the ones with CFS ≥5 and EFS ≥8 were considered as fragile. The study population was classified and compared according to NIV success, ICU outcome (discharge or exitus) and NIV application problems. RESULTS: A total of 103 patients with the mean age of 73 ± 11 years were included. The incidence of frailty was 41% with CFS ≥5 and 36% with EFS ≥8. The NIV failure occurred in 30 (29%) patients. Among them frailty and SOFA score was higher; Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was lower. In multivariate analysis GCS (OR: 1.2, p: 0.042) and frailty with EFS (OR: 2.8, p: 0.027) were identified as independent risk factors of NIV failure. Sixty-five (63%) patients had NIV application problems and frailty was higher among them with both CFS and EFS (p < 0.05). Mortality occurred in 18 (17%) patients; NIV failure and frailty according to CFS were independent risk factors of mortality. CONCLUSION: The frailty is associated with higher NIV application problems, failure and mortality risk in elderly ICU patients. The CFS and EFS frailty scores can be used to predict NIV success and outcomes in ICUs.

Comparison of the Efficacy of Colistin Monotherapy and Colistin Combination Therapies in the Treatment of Nosocomial Pneumonia and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Caused by Acinetobacter baumannii

Objective. To investigate whether there was a difference in mortality; clinical response and bacterial eradication between colistin monotherapy and colistin combination therapies for the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia/ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by Acinetobacter baumannii in a medical intensive care unit (ICU).Methods. This retrospective; observational and single-centre study included all patients who were in the medical ICU of Gazi University Medical Faculty Hospital and diagnosed with nosocomial pneumonia/VAP caused by A. baumannii between January 2009 and September 2014. Results. The median age of the 134 patients was 68 years and 53.3% were male. The most common causes of admission were respiratory insufficiency (66.7%) and sepsis/septic shock (54.8%). In patients with nosocomial pneumonia/VAP caused by A. baumannii; on median day 5 of admission; colistin monotherapy was used in 23 (21.6%) patients; a carbapenem combination was used in 80 (59.7%) patients; sulbactam-ampicillin combination was used in 42 (31.4%) patients; tigecycline combination was used in 26 (19.4%) patients; and sulbactam-cefoperazone combination was used in 17 (12.7%) patients. Median ICU stay of the patients was 15.5 days; and 112 (83.6%) patients died. Colistin monotherapy and combination therapies had no superiority over each other in clinical response for the treatment of A. baumannii-associated nosocomial pneumonia/VAP. Mortality was found to be higher in patients receiving the colistin-carbapenem combination (64.3% v. 36.4%; p=0.016). Discharge/day-of-death Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (odds ratio (OR) 2.017; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.330 - 3.061) and vasopressor use (OR 9.014; 95% CI 1.360 - 59.464) were independent risk factors for ICU mortality. Conclusion. Colistin monotherapy and combination therapies have no superiority over each other for clinical response in the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia/VAP caused by multidrug-resistant A. baumannii. Colistin-SAM was associated with improved microbiological eradication and colistin-carbapenem combination was associated with increased mortality

Burkholderia cepacia as a cause of ecthyma gangrenosum-like lesion.

Ecthyma gangrenosum (EG) is considered to be a pathognomonic sign of Pseudomonas aeruginosa septicemia and is predominantly seen in immunosuppressed patients. Although P. aeruginosa is the most recognized pathogen of EG, numerous other organisms have been reported to cause clinically identical lesions. We report a case of an EG-like eruption caused by Burkholderia cepacia, in an intensive care unit patient with multiple myeloma.