Insulin treatment guided by subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring compared to frequent point-of-care measurement in critically ill patients: a randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Glucose measurement in intensive care medicine is performed intermittently with the risk of undetected hypoglycemia. The workload for the ICU nursing staff is substantial. Subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems are available and may be able to solve some of these issues in critically ill patients. METHODS: In a randomized controlled design in a mixed ICU in a teaching hospital we compared the use of subcutaneous CGM with frequent point of care (POC) to guide insulin treatment. Adult critically ill patients with an expected stay of more than 24 hours and in need of insulin therapy were included. All patients received subcutaneous CGM. CGM data were blinded in the control group, whereas in the intervention group these data were used to feed a computerized glucose regulation algorithm. The same algorithm was used in the control group fed by intermittent POC glucose measurements. Safety was assessed with the incidence of severe hypoglycemia (<2.2 mmol/L), efficacy with the percentage time in target range (5.0 to 9.0 mmol/L). In addition, we assessed nursing workload and costs. RESULTS: In this study, 87 patients were randomized to the intervention and 90 to the control group. CGM device failure resulted in 78 and 78 patients for analysis. The incidence of severe glycemia and percentage of time within target range was similar in both groups. A significant reduction in daily nursing workload for glucose control was found in the intervention group (17 versus 36 minutes; P <0.001). Mean daily costs per patient were significantly reduced with EUR 12 (95% CI -32 to -18, P = 0.02) in the intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: Subcutaneous CGM to guide insulin treatment in critically ill patients is as safe and effective as intermittent point-of-care measurements and reduces nursing workload and daily costs. A new algorithm designed for frequent measurements may lead to improved performance and should precede clinical implementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01526044. Registered 1 February 2012.

Hemostasis during low molecular weight heparin anticoagulation for continuous venovenous hemofiltration: a randomized cross-over trial comparing two hemofiltration rates.

INTRODUCTION: Renal insufficiency increases the half-life of low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs). Whether continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) removes LMWHs is unsettled. We studied hemostasis during nadroparin anticoagulation for CVVH, and explored the implication of the endogenous thrombin potential (ETP). METHODS: This cross-over study, performed in a 20-bed teaching hospital ICU, randomized non-surgical patients with acute kidney injury requiring nadroparin for CVVH to compare hemostasis between two doses of CVVH: filtrate flow was initiated at 4 L/h and converted to 2 L/h after 60 min in group 1, and vice versa in group 2. Patients received nadroparin 2850 IU i.v., followed by 380 IU/h continuously in the extracorporeal circuit. After baseline sampling, ultrafiltrate, arterial (art) and postfilter (PF) blood was taken for hemostatic markers after 1 h, and 15 min, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h after converting filtrate flow. We compared randomized groups, and 'early circuit clotting' to 'normal circuit life' groups. RESULTS: Fourteen patients were randomized, seven to each group. Despite randomization, group 1 had higher SOFA scores (median 14 (IQR 11-15) versus 9 (IQR 5-9), p = 0.004). Anti-Xa art activity peaked upon nadroparin bolus and declined thereafter (p = 0.05). Anti-Xa PF did not change in time. Anti-Xa activity was not detected in ultrafiltrate. Medians of all anti-Xa samples were lower in group 1 (anti-Xa art 0.19 (0.12-0.37) vs. 0.31 (0.23-0.52), p = 0.02; anti-Xa PF 0.34 (0.25-0.44) vs. 0.51 (0.41-0.76), p = 0.005). After a steep decline, arterial ETPAUC tended to increase (p = 0.06), opposite to anti-Xa, while postfilter ETPAUC increased (p = 0.001). Median circuit life was 24.5 h (IQR 12-37 h). Patients with 'short circuit life' had longer baseline prothrombin time (PTT), activated thromboplastin time (aPTT), lower ETP, higher thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT) and higher SOFA scores; during CVVH, anti-Xa, and platelets were lower; PTT, aPTT, TAT and D-dimers were longer/higher and ETP was slower and depressed. CONCLUSIONS: We found no accumulation and no removal of LMWH activity during CVVH. However, we found that early circuit clotting was associated with more severe organ failure, prior systemic thrombin generation with consumptive coagulopathy, heparin resistance and elevated extracorporeal thrombin generation. ETP integrates these complex effects on the capacity to form thrombin. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT00965328.