RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS), calculated in the 24 h after heart transplantation, and post-transplant mortality and morbidity. METHODS: This was an observational single-centre retrospective study. Patients admitted to surgical intensive care unit after transplantation, between January 2015 and December 2018, were reviewed consecutively. VISmax was calculated as dopamine+ dobutamine+ 100 × epinephrine + 100 × norepinephrine + 50 × levosimendan + 10 × milrinone (all in µg/kg/min) + 10 000 × vasopressin (units/kg/min), using the maximum dosing rates of vasoactive and inotropic medications in the 24 h after intensive care unit admission. The primary outcome was mortality at 1 year post-transplant. The secondary outcomes included length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation and inotropic support and the occurrence of septic shock, ventilator-associated pneumonia, bloodstream infection or renal replacement therapy. RESULTS: A total of 151 patients underwent heart transplantation and admitted to intensive care unit. The median VISmax was 39.2 (interquartile range = 19.4-83.0). VISmax was independently associated with 1-year post-transplant mortality, as well as recipient age [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.004, P-value = 0.013], recipient gender (female to male: hazard ratio = 2.23, P-value = 0.047) and combined transplantation (hazard ratio = 2.85, P-value = 0.048). There was a significant association between VISmax and duration of mechanical ventilation (P-value < 0.001), length of stay (P-value = 0.002), duration of infused inotropes (P-value < 0.001), occurrence of bloodstream infections, septic shocks, ventilation-acquired pneumonia and renal replacement therapy. CONCLUSIONS: VISmax calculated during the first 24 h after postoperative intensive care unit admission in transplanted patients is independently associated with 1-year mortality. In addition, length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation and infused inotropes increased with increasing VISmax.
RESUMO
STUDY OBJECTIVE: Efforts to reduce unnecessary and unnecessarily long antibiotic treatment for community-acquired pneumonia have been attempted through use of procalcitonin and through guidelines based on serial clinical assessment. Our aim is to compare guideline-based clinical assessment- and procalcitonin algorithm-guided antibiotic use among patients with community-acquired pneumonia. METHODS: We performed a pragmatic, randomized, multicenter trial from November 2012 to April 2015 at 12 French hospitals. We included emergency department (ED) patients older than 18 years with community-acquired pneumonia. Patients were randomly assigned to either the procalcitonin-guided or clinical assessment group. In accordance with past studies, we hypothesized that serial clinical assessment would be superior to procalcitonin-guided care. The primary outcome was antibiotic duration, and secondary outcomes included rates of antibiotic duration less than or equal to 5 days, and clinical success and combined serious adverse outcomes at 30 days in the intention-to-treat population. RESULTS: Of 370 eligible patients, 285 (77%) were randomly assigned to either clinical assessment- (n=143) or procalcitonin-guided care (n=142). Median age was 67 years (range 18 to 93 years) and 40% of patients were deemed to have Pneumonia Severity Index class IV or V. Procalcitonin algorithm adherence was 76%. Antibiotic duration was not significantly different between clinical assessment- and procalcitonin-guided groups (median 9 versus 10 days, respectively). Clinical success rate was 92% in each group and serious adverse outcome rates were similar (15% versus 20%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Guideline-based serial clinical assessment did not reduce antibiotic exposure compared with procalcitonin-guided care among ED patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The strategies were similar in terms of duration of antibiotic use and clinical outcomes.
