Choice of initial antifungal therapy in critically Ill patients

Antifungal prophylaxis in critically ill patients

van Till and colleagues assessed yeast colonisation, lumping together ‘positive yeast cultures obtained from sputum, stool, urine and/or wound’ [1]. The majority of SDD trials reported positive yeast cultures obtained from surveillance cultures of throat and rectal swabs, whilst the SAP studies mainly assessed positive yeast cultures obtained from diagnostic samples including lower airway secre...

Nutritional Assessment in Critically Ill Patients

Background: Malnutrition is an important factor in the survival of critically ill patients. The purpose of the present study was to assess the nutritional status of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) on the days of admission and discharge via a detailed nutritional assessment. Methods: Totally, 125 patients were followed up from admission to discharge at 8ICUs in Shiraz, Iran. The patien...

Initial ventilator settings for critically ill patients

The lung-protective mechanical ventilation strategy has been standard practice for management of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) for more than a decade. Observational data, small randomized studies and two recent systematic reviews suggest that lung protective ventilation is both safe and potentially beneficial in patients who do not have ARDS at the onset of mechanical ventilation. ...

Clinical Trials of Antifungal Prophylaxis in Surgical Critically Ill Patients

How to select an antifungal agent in critically ill patients.

Fungal infections are common in critically ill patients and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Candida spp are the most commonly isolated fungal pathogens. The last 2 decades have seen an increased incidence of fungal infections in critical illness and the emergence of new pathogenic fungal species and also the development of more effective (better bioavailability) and safer...