Epidemiology and outcome of sepsis syndromes in Italian ICUs: a muticentre, observational cohort study in the region of Piedmont.

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in the intensive care unit (ICU). We performed a study to describe the epidemiology of sepsis syndromes in patients admitted to ICUs of the Piedmont region. METHODS: In this prospective, multicentre, observational study, all 3902 patients admitted to a network of 24 ICUs from 17 hospitals during a 180 day period (April 3-September 29, 2006) were included. Patients were followed from the first day of admission until death or ICU discharge. RESULTS: The incidence of sepsis during the ICU stay was 11.4% (N.=446), corresponding to an incidence of 25 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year; 141 (31.6%) patients had only sepsis, 160 patients had severe sepsis (35.9%) and 145 patients (32.5%) had septic shock In 227 patients (50.9%), sepsis was observed within 48 hours after admission to the ICU, and 219 patients (49.1%) developed ICU-acquired sepsis. The main sources of infection were the lungs, abdomen, and urinary tract. ICU mortality was higher (41.3 vs. 17.3%, P<0.0001) and the median ICU length of stay longer (15 vs. 2 days, P<0.0001) in patients with sepsis than in those without sepsis. The mortality rate increased with the severity of sepsis. ICU-acquired sepsis was associated with higher ICU mortality rates than sepsis occurring within 48 hours of ICU admission (49.8 vs. 33.0%, P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Sepsis is a common occurrence in critically ill patients. Our data underscore the regional variability in the epidemiology and outcome of sepsis syndromes and may be useful to guide appropriate resource allocation.

[Surgery of the descending thoracic and thoraco-abdominal arteries. Report of 105 cases]. / La chirurgia dell'aorta toracica discendente e toraco-addominale. A proposito di 105 casi.

The Authors show their casistic of about 105 cases of thoracic descending and thoraco-abdominal aorta pathologies between 1.1.1993 and 30.12.1995. After a short introduction about the improvements in anesthesia and reanimation of these pathologies as well as the good reliability of diagnostic and currently available instruments, mortality and mobility parameters are taken into account, the last one referring to paraplegia and ARF. The casistic is evaluated splitting the cases into 2 groups, urgent surgery and election surgery, and differentiating the aneurysm type from the dissection type. Besides, the mortality and mobility are reported for any pathology, with a discussion of the parameters which drove the choice of the most suitable methodology to be adopted (ECC femoro-subclavian shunt, simple clamping). The results achieved show a mortality of 40% in urgency, between 5 and 15% in election, with a rate of paraplegia around 8-10% and a ARF between 5 and 15%. These data match the literature statistics and support the quality of the adopted methodologies.

Surgical treatment of carotid kinking.

The authors take in exam 34 anatomical variation in the extracranial internal carotid artery (compared with more than 450 operated carotid artery), 15 of which involved kinking in patients with overt neurological symptoms, underwent corrective surgical treatment, and test the most useful and appropriate techniques in any case.

[Spinal cord protection in surgery of the thoracic, descending, and thoraco-abdominal aorta. Comparison of methods]. / La protezione midollare nella chirurgia dell'aorta toracica, discendente e toraco-addominale. Metodiche a confronto.

The authors compare the strategus needed for the elimination of paraplegia and for protection of abdominal organs after replacement of descending thoracic or thoraco-abdominal aorta. They analyse single technique considering the advantages and the controindications; furthermore they compare these properties and those of possible variants in the light of the presentation; type of disease and general conditions of the patient. These considerations are in agreement with later literature as well as the attitude of the surgeon.