Intensive care of patients requiring open abdomen treatment: a case-series analysis.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective overview examines the management of patients with temporary open abdomen (OA). METHODS: The clinical characteristics and intensive care treatment of 34 consecutive patients with OA (1996-2012) were reviewed. RESULTS: Average age was 61 years, SAPS II score 43, SOFA 8. Two patients had non-contaminated abdomen; 12 had intact gut (only 8 later during stay); 7 repaired gut (only later 4); 13 cutaneous stoma (later 14), and 2 entero-atmospheric fistula (later 8+1 entero-enteral). The median ICU stay was 48 [36-94] days. One quarter of the 2376 ICU-days were classified as severe sepsis/septic shock (antibiotics were given for two thirds of the stay); three quarters were with ventilation; in 95% of days sedatives were given (mainly enterally). Continuous cavity lavage was done in three quarters of days; in 3% of days patients were fasted whereas >20 kcal/kg was given for 74% of days; we fed the gut in 95% of fed-days, in half of them combined with parenteral nutrition. Complications are discussed; mortality was 32.4%, limited to the ICU stay. CONCLUSION: The intensive care of patients with OA is challenging but can achieve better outcomes than expected. Continuous abdominal lavage improves the evacuation of contaminated fluid or debris and, coupled with antiseptics and low antibiotic pressure, reinforces the control of infection. The gut can be used for nutrition (even without gastrointestinal continuity), and long-term light sedation (mainly enteral) with minimal impact on perfusion, ventilation and gut motility.

Vardenafil and weaning from inhaled nitric oxide: effect on pulmonary hypertension in ARDS.

We report a 66-year-old patient with refractory pulmonary hypertension secondary to ARDS who was being treated with inhaled nitric oxide. Enteral vardenafil (phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor) was tried at two different doses (10 mg and 5 mg), in order to wean the patient from nitric oxide. The higher dose decreased pulmonary pressure but caused systemic hypotension and the drug was discontinued. Subsequently, a 5 mg dose of vardenafil decreased pulmonary pressure without hypotension. Pulmonary hypertension was controlled using vardenafil 10-15 mg divided in 2-3 daily doses. This therapy allowed nitric oxide withdrawal, weaning from mechanical ventilation and discharge from ICU Vardenafil acted in synergy with inhaled nitric oxide, permitted nitric oxide reduction and discontinuation and proved to be effective as a single, long-term treatment for pulmonary hypertension.

Intratracheal pulmonary ventilation and continuous positive airway pressure in a sheep model of severe acute respiratory failure.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Previously we have shown that optimal pulmonary gas exchange can be sustained at normal airway pressures in a model of severe acute respiratory failure (ARF), using intratracheal pulmonary ventilation (ITPV), with weaning to room air. In an identical model of ARF, we have now explored whether ITPV, combined with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), can sustain adequate ventilation, with weaning to room air. DESIGN: Randomized study in sheep. SETTING: Animal research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. INTERVENTIONS: ARF was induced in 12 sheep, using mechanical ventilation at peak inspiratory pressure of 50 cm H2O, but excluding 5 to 8% of lungs. Sheep were then randomized into two groups: the CPAP-ITPV group (n=6), in which ITPV was combined with a novel CPAP system; and a control group (n=6) in which the same CPAP circuit was used, but without ITPV. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: All sheep in the CPAP-ITPV group were weaned to room air in 38.7+/-14 h. PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen (FIO2) progressively increased from 108.8+/-43 to 355.7+/-93.1; PaCO2 remained within normal range; respiratory rate (RR) ranged from 18 to 120 breaths/min, and tidal volume (VT) was as low as 1.1 mL/kg. All sheep in the control group (CPAP alone) developed severe respiratory acidosis and hypoxemia after 4.8+/-4 h. PaO2/FIO2 decreased from 126.6+/-58.2 to 107.2+/-52.5 mm Hg, with a final PaCO2 of 166.8+/-73.3 mm Hg. CONCLUSIONS: All sheep treated with CPAP-ITPV maintained good gas exchange without hypercapnia at high RR and at low VT, with weaning to room air. All control animals treated with CPAP alone developed severe hypercapnia, respiratory acidosis, and severe hypoxemia, and were killed.

New ultrathin-walled endotracheal tube with a novel laryngeal seal design. Long-term evaluation in sheep.

BACKGROUND: A new endotracheal tube (ETT) was fabricated and tested in sheep. It had no tracheal cuff; airway seal was achieved at the level of the glottis through a no-pressure seal made of "gills"; the laryngeal portion was oval-shaped; and the wall thickness was reduced to 0.2 mm. METHODS: Sheep were tracheally intubated either with a standard tube or with the new tube, and their lungs were mechanically ventilated for 1 or 3 days. Air leak was recorded at different peak inspiratory pressures (PIPs). Liquid seepage into the trachea was assessed using an indicator dye. Tracheolaryngeal lesions were scored grossly and histologically. RESULTS: There was no air leak up to 40 cmH2O of PIP, in either group, in short- and long-term studies. Methylene blue leaked across the cuff in two sheep with standard ETTs. No dye leaked across the gills with the new ETTs. In the new ETT group, the trachea appeared better preserved, grossly and histologically, than in the standard ETT group at both 1 and 3 days (P < 0.05). At day 1, the larynx and vocal cords appeared grossly less injured in the new ETT group (P < 0.05), whereas there was no difference at day 3. Histology did not show significant difference on vocal cords, epiglottis, and larynx between the two groups at any time. CONCLUSIONS: The novel, no-pressure seal design of the new ETT is highly effective in preventing air leak and aspiration. It causes no significant tracheal injury.