Articles

Glycocalyx and its involvement in clinical pathophysiologies

Vascular hyperpermeability is a frequent intractable feature involved in a wide range of diseases in the intensive care unit. The glycocalyx (GCX) seemingly plays a key role to control vascular permeability. T...

Authors: Akira Ushiyama, Hanae Kataoka and Takehiko Iijima

Light irradiation for treatment of acute carbon monoxide poisoning: an experimental study

Because treatment modalities for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, especially normobaric oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen therapies, have limited effects and hyperbaric oxygen is not available at the scene where tre...

Authors: Taku Tanaka, Takeshi Kashimura, Marii Ise, Brandon D. Lohman and Yasuhiko Taira

Lung ultrasound—a primary survey of the acutely dyspneic patient

There has been an explosion of knowledge and application of clinical lung ultrasound (LUS) in the last decade. LUS has important applications in the ambulatory, emergency, and critical care settings and its de...

Authors: Francis Chun Yue Lee

An overview of point-of-care ultrasound for soft tissue and musculoskeletal applications in the emergency department

The skin, soft tissue, and most parts of the musculoskeletal system are relatively superficial anatomical structures and ideal targets for ultrasound examination in the emergency departments. Soft tissue and m...

Authors: Kuo-Chih Chen, Aming Chor-Ming Lin, Chee-Fah Chong and Tzong-Luen Wang

Clinically integrated multi-organ point-of-care ultrasound for undifferentiated respiratory difficulty, chest pain, or shock: a critical analytic review

Rapid and accurate diagnosis and treatment are paramount in the management of the critically ill. Critical care ultrasound has been widely used as an adjunct to standard clinical examination, an invaluable ext...

Authors: Young-Rock Ha and Hong-Chuen Toh

Overview of point-of-care abdominal ultrasound in emergency and critical care

Point-of-care abdominal ultrasound (US), which is performed by clinicians at bedside, is increasingly being used to evaluate clinical manifestations, to facilitate accurate diagnoses, and to assist procedures ...

Authors: Toru Kameda and Nobuyuki Taniguchi

Role of upper airway ultrasound in airway management

Upper airway ultrasound is a valuable, non-invasive, simple, and portable point of care ultrasound (POCUS) for evaluation of airway management even in anatomy distorted by pathology or trauma. Ultrasound enabl...

Authors: Adi Osman and Kok Meng Sum

Make it SIMPLE: enhanced shock management by focused cardiac ultrasound

Shock is a spectrum of circulatory failure that, if not properly managed, would lead to high mortality. Special diagnostic and treatment strategies are essential to save lives. However, clinical and laboratory...

Authors: Ka Leung Mok

One-year resource utilisation, costs and quality of life in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial

The long-term economic and quality-of-life outcomes of patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) with acute respiratory distress syndrome are not well understood. In this study, we investigate 1-year cost...

Authors: Joachim Marti, Peter Hall, Patrick Hamilton, Sarah Lamb, Chris McCabe, Ranjit Lall, Julie Darbyshire, Duncan Young and Claire Hulme

Early mobilization of mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit

Several recent studies have suggested that the early mobilization of mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit is safe and effective. However, in these studies, few patients reached high leve...

Authors: Shunsuke Taito, Nobuaki Shime, Kohei Ota and Hideto Yasuda

Erratum to: Neurocritical care update

Authors: Yasuhiro Kuroda

Recombinant human thrombomodulin inhibits neutrophil extracellular trap formation in vitro

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of recombinant human-soluble thrombomodulin (rTM) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced, platelet-dependent neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation (NET...

Authors: Yasuyo Shimomura, Mika Suga, Naohide Kuriyama, Tomoyuki Nakamura, Toshikazu Sakai, Yu Kato, Yoshitaka Hara, Chizuru Yamashita, Hiroshi Nagasaki, Masao Kaneki and Osamu Nishida

Posttraumatic stress symptoms in families of cancer patients admitted to the intensive care unit: a longitudinal study

Families of cancer patients in the ICU often experience severe stress. Understanding their experience is important for providing family-centered care during this difficult period. Little is known about the exp...

Authors: Miyuki H. Komachi and Kiyoko Kamibeppu

Comments to: risk factors for late defecation and its association with the outcomes of critically ill patients: a retrospective observational study

In a previous retrospective work, it has been postulated that early enteral nutrition was a protective factor against late defecation and its subsequent consequences in critically ill patients. We raise concer...

Authors: Dominique Prat and Benjamin Sztrymf

Unmeasured anions and mortality in critically ill patients in 2016

The presence of acid-base disturbances, especially metabolic acidosis may negatively affect the outcome of critically ill patients. Lactic acidosis is the most frequent etiology and has largest impact on the p...

Authors: Yoshifumi Kotake

Characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of severe sepsis of 3195 ICU-treated adult patients throughout Japan during 2011–2013

Severe sepsis is a major concern in the intensive care unit (ICU), although there is very little epidemiological information regarding severe sepsis in Japan. This study evaluated 3195 patients with severe sep...

Authors: Mineji Hayakawa, Shinjiro Saito, Shigehiko Uchino, Kazuma Yamakawa, Daisuke Kudo, Yusuke Iizuka, Masamitsu Sanui, Kohei Takimoto, Toshihiko Mayumi, Takeo Azuhata, Fumihito Ito, Shodai Yoshihiro, Katsura Hayakawa, Tsuyoshi Nakashima, Takayuki Ogura, Eiichiro Noda…

A comparison of prognostic significance of strong ion gap (SIG) with other acid-base markers in the critically ill: a cohort study

This cohort study compared the prognostic significance of strong ion gap (SIG) with other acid-base markers in the critically ill.

Authors: Kwok M. Ho, Norris S. H. Lan, Teresa A. Williams, Yusra Harahsheh, Andrew R. Chapman, Geoffrey J. Dobb and Sheldon Magder

Decreases in cerebral saturation in patients with septic shock are associated with increased risk of death: a prospective observational single center study

The mortality rate from septic shock has been declining. Cerebral hypoxia, measured non-invasively with cerebral oximetry, has been correlated with neurologic and non-neurologic sequelae. Whether cerebral desa...

Authors: Duane J. Funk, Anand Kumar and Gregory Klar

Comparison of three early biomarkers for acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication after cardiac surgery, being associated with a high mortality. We assessed three urinary biomarkers, L-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), neutrophil g...

Authors: Takahiro Moriyama, Shintaro Hagihara, Toko Shiramomo, Misaki Nagaoka, Shohei Iwakawa and Yuichi Kanmura

Addition of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels to the Deyo-Charlson Comorbidity Index improves 90-day mortality prediction in critically ill patients

The Deyo-Charlson Comorbidity Index (DCCI) has low predictive value in the intensive care unit (ICU). Our goal was to determine whether addition of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels to the DCCI improved 90-da...

Authors: Bisundev Mahato, Tiffany M. N. Otero, Carrie A. Holland, Patrick T. Giguere, Ednan K. Bajwa, Carlos A. Camargo Jr. and Sadeq A. Quraishi

Renal replacement therapy neutralizes elevated MIF levels in septic shock

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is known to amplify the immune response in septic animal models. Few clinical data support this pro-inflammatory role in septic patients. Renal replacement therapy ...

Authors: Julia Pohl, Maria Papathanasiou, Martin Heisler, Pia Stock, Malte Kelm, Ulrike B. Hendgen-Cotta, Tienush Rassaf and Peter Luedike

Right heart in septic shock: prospective observational study

The right heart often receives less attention during echocardiography. The situation is no different in septic shock. We prospectively investigated the echocardiographic indices of the right heart in septic sh...

Authors: Ratender Kumar Singh, Sudeep Kumar, Sreevatsa Nadig, Arvind Kumar Baronia, Banani Poddar, Afzal Azim and Mohan Gurjar

High-mobility group box 1 is associated with neurological outcome in patients with post-cardiac arrest syndrome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Alarmins, including high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB-1), can be released from damaged tissues and activated cells as inflammatory mediators. We aimed to evaluate HMGB-1 and mitochondrial DNA dynamics and estima...

Authors: Taku Omura, Shigeki Kushimoto, Satoshi Yamanouchi, Daisuke Kudo and Noriko Miyagawa

Neurocritical care update

This update comprises six important topics under neurocritical care that require reevaluation. For post-cardiac arrest brain injury, the evaluation of the injury and its corresponding therapy, including temper...

Authors: Yasuhiro Kuroda

Predicting mortality in the intensive care unit: a comparison of the University Health Consortium expected probability of mortality and the Mortality Prediction Model III

Quality benchmarks are increasingly being used to compare the delivery of healthcare, and may affect reimbursement in the future. The University Health Consortium (UHC) expected probability of mortality (EPM) ...

Authors: Angela K. M. Lipshutz, John R. Feiner, Barbara Grimes and Michael A. Gropper

High intravascular tissue factor—but not extracellular microvesicles—in septic patients is associated with a high SAPS II score

Sepsis is associated with coagulation abnormalities, and a high content of intravascular tissue factor (TF) may contribute to the development of multisystem organ failure. Circulating microvesicles (MVs) are i...

Authors: Carolin Trepesch, Ramona Nitzsche, Aenne Glass, Bernd Kreikemeyer, Jochen K. Schubert and Sonja Oehmcke-Hecht

Risk factors for late defecation and its association with the outcomes of critically ill patients: a retrospective observational study

Late defecation was recently reported to be associated with worse clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. However, more research is needed to examine the causes and clinical significance of late defecati...

Authors: Shinya Fukuda, Takashi Miyauchi, Motoki Fujita, Yasutaka Oda, Masaki Todani, Yoshikatsu Kawamura, Kotaro Kaneda and Ryosuke Tsuruta

Change of serum prealbumin levels and serum protein markers between egg white powder and casein protein additives in standard enteral feeding formulas in critically ill patients with acute respiratory failure

Protein deficiency is a major problem in critically ill patients. Egg white powder recently became a standard additive for protein supplementation in our unit. However, clinical data are not available to suppo...

Authors: Rungsun Bhurayanontachai and Sunatee Sa-nguansai

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Brain injury following cardiac arrest: pathophysiology for neurocritical care

Cardiac arrest induces the cessation of cerebral blood flow, which can result in brain damage. The primary intervention to salvage the brain unde...

Authors: Hiroyuki Uchino, Yukihiko Ogihara, Hidekimi Fukui, Miyuki Chijiiwa, Shusuke Sekine, Naomi Hara and Eskil Elmér

Targeted temperature management for adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: current concepts and clinical applications

Targeted temperature management (TTM) (primarily therapeutic hypothermia (TH)) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has been considered effective, especially for adult-witnessed OHCA with a shockable in...

Authors: Tatsuma Fukuda

Traumatic brain injury: pathophysiology for neurocritical care

Severe cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) require neurocritical care, the goal being to stabilize hemodynamics and systemic oxygenation to prevent secondary brain injury. It is reported that approximately 4...

Authors: Kosaku Kinoshita

Targeted temperature management in traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is recognized as the significant cause of mortality and morbidity in the world. To reduce unfavorable outcome in TBI patients, many researches have made much efforts for the innova...

Authors: Shoji Yokobori and Hiroyuki Yokota

Fluid therapy in the perioperative setting—a clinical review

Perioperative hypovolemia and fluid overload have effects on both complications following surgery and on patient survival. Therefore, the administration of intravenous fluids before, during, and after surgery ...

Authors: Anders Winther Voldby and Birgitte Brandstrup

Roles of neurally adjusted ventilatory assist in improving gas exchange in a severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patient after weaning from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: a case report

Patient-ventilator asynchrony is a major cause of difficult weaning from mechanical ventilation. Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) is reported useful to improve the synchrony in patients with sustain...

Authors: Yuya Goto, Shinshu Katayama, Atsuko Shono, Yosuke Mori, Yuya Miyazaki, Yoko Sato, Makoto Ozaki and Toru Kotani

Prognostic value of the recovery time of continuous normal voltage in amplitude-integrated electroencephalography in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia: a retrospective study

The early prediction of neurological outcomes in postcardiac arrest patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia (TH) remains challenging. Amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) is a type of quant...

Authors: Kazuhiro Sugiyama, Masahiro Kashiura, Akiko Akashi, Takahiro Tanabe and Yuichi Hamabe

Designing phase 3 sepsis trials: application of learned experiences from critical care trials in acute heart failure

Substantial attention and resources have been directed to improving outcomes of patients with critical illnesses, in particular sepsis, but all recent clinical trials testing various interventions or strategie...

Authors: Alexandre Mebazaa, Pierre François Laterre, James A. Russell, Andreas Bergmann, Luciano Gattinoni, Etienne Gayat, Michael O. Harhay, Oliver Hartmann, Frauke Hein, Anne Louise Kjolbye, Matthieu Legrand, Roger J. Lewis, John C. Marshall, Gernot Marx, Peter Radermacher, Mathias Schroedter…

Sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation

Sepsis is frequently complicated by coagulopathy and, in about 35 % of severe cases, by disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). In Japan, aggressive treatment of septic DIC is encouraged using antithromb...

Authors: Kohji Okamoto, Toshihisa Tamura and Yusuke Sawatsubashi

Sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction: pathophysiology and management

Sepsis is aggravated by an inappropriate immune response to invading microorganisms, which occasionally leads to multiple organ failure. Several lines of evidence suggest that the ventricular myocardium is dep...

Authors: Yasuyuki Kakihana, Takashi Ito, Mayumi Nakahara, Keiji Yamaguchi and Tomotsugu Yasuda

Alert cell strategy in SIRS-induced vasculitis: sepsis and endothelial cells

Sepsis refers to systemic inflammatory response syndrome and organ failure resulting from infection. Inflammatory receptors (e.g., Toll-like receptors and nucleotide oligomerization domain) recognize bacterial...

Authors: Naoyuki Matsuda

A clinical perspective of sepsis-associated delirium

The term sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) has been applied to animal models, postmortem studies in patients, and severe cases of sepsis. SAE is considered to include all types of brain dysfunction, inclu...

Authors: Ryosuke Tsuruta and Yasutaka Oda

Role of kidney injury in sepsis

Kidney injury, including acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), has become very common in critically ill patients treated in ICUs. Many epidemiological studies have revealed significant as...

Authors: Kent Doi

Context-sensitive fluid therapy in critical illness

Microcirculatory alterations are frequently observed in critically ill patients undergoing major surgery and those who suffer from trauma or sepsis. Despite the need for adequate fluid administration to restor...

Authors: Tsuneo Tatara

Profiles of direct oral anticoagulants and clinical usage—dosage and dose regimen differences

The availability of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has caused a paradigm shift in thrombosis management. DOAC profiles do not differ greatly, though they are quite different from that of warfarin, whereas ...

Authors: Masahiro Ieko, Sumiyoshi Naitoh, Mika Yoshida and Nobuhiko Takahashi

To develop a regional ICU mortality prediction model during the first 24 h of ICU admission utilizing MODS and NEMS with six other independent variables from the Critical Care Information System (CCIS) Ontario, Canada

Intensive care unit (ICU) scoring systems or prediction models evolved to meet the desire of clinical and administrative leaders to assess the quality of care provided by their ICUs. The Critical Care Informat...

Authors: Raymond Kao, Fran Priestap and Allan Donner

Diurnal variation in the performance of rapid response systems: the role of critical care services—a review article

The type of medical review before an adverse event influences patient outcome. Delays in the up-transfer of patients requiring intensive care are associated with higher mortality rates. Timely detection and re...

Authors: Krishnaswamy Sundararajan, Arthas Flabouris and Campbell Thompson

Circulating nucleosomes as predictive markers of severe acute pancreatitis

The components of nucleosomes, which contain DNA and histones, are released into the circulation from damaged cells and can promote inflammation. We studied whether the on-admission levels of circulating nucle...

Authors: Anne K. Penttilä, Ari Rouhiainen, Leena Kylänpää, Harri Mustonen, Pauli Puolakkainen, Heikki Rauvala and Heikki Repo

Prognostic utility of plasma lactate measured between 24 and 48 h after initiation of early goal-directed therapy in the management of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock

Based on the proven efficacy of lactate in predicting mortality and morbidity in sepsis when measured early in the resuscitative protocol, our group hypothesized that this utility extends later in the course o...

Authors: Jason Chertoff, Michael Chisum, Lauren Simmons, Brent King, Michael Walker and Jorge Lascano

Use of a modified early warning score system to reduce the rate of in-hospital cardiac arrest

Physiological abnormalities are often observed in patients prior to cardiac arrest. A modified early warning score (MEWS) system was introduced, which aims to detect early abnormalities by grading vital signs,...

Authors: Isao Nishijima, Shouhei Oyadomari, Shuuto Maedomari, Risa Toma, Chisato Igei, Shinya Kobata, Jyun Koyama, Ryuichiro Tomori, Natsuki Kawamitsu, Yoshiki Yamamoto, Masafumi Tsuchida, Yoshihiro Tokeshi, Ryo Ikemura, Kazufumi Miyagi, Koichi Okiyama and Kiyoshi Iha

Journal of Intensive Care reviewer acknowledgement 2015

The editors of Journal of Intensive Care would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 3 (2015).

Authors: Satoshi Gando

Rationale, design, and profile of Comprehensive Registry of In-Hospital Intensive Care for OHCA Survival (CRITICAL) study in Osaka, Japan

We established a multi-center, prospective cohort that could provide appropriate therapeutic strategies such as criteria for the introduction and the effectiveness of in-hospital advanced treatments, including...

Authors: Tomoki Yamada, Tetsuhisa Kitamura, Koichi Hayakawa, Kazuhisa Yoshiya, Taro Irisawa, Yoshio Abe, Megumi Ishiro, Toshifumi Uejima, Yasuo Ohishi, Kazuhisa Kaneda, Takeyuki Kiguchi, Masashi Kishi, Masafumi Kishimoto, Shota Nakao, Tetsuro Nishimura, Yasuyuki Hayashi…