Neurological Critical Care

Peripartum neurological emergencies in a Critical Care Unit.

OBJECTIVE To assess the proportion of eclampsia among patients admitted to the critical care unit (CCU) with an acute neurological emergency in the peripartum period, and careful clinical, laboratory, and radiological evaluation of non-eclampsia cases responsible for such presentation. METHODS A case series study that included women with acute deterioration of consciousness, with or without c...

Critical Care Neurology and Neuro Critical Care

Time-critical neurological emergencies: the unfulfilled role for point-of-care testing

BACKGROUND Neurological emergencies are common and frequently devastating. Every year, millions of Americans suffer an acute stroke, severe traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, status epilepticus, or spinal cord injury severe enough to require medical intervention. AIMS Full evaluation of the diseases in the acute setting often requires advanced diagnostics, and treatment frequent...

CRITICAL CARE/RESPIRATORY CARE Corticosteroid Replacement in Critical Illness

Intensivists routinely administer glucocorticoids, which are potent anti-inflammatory, immune, metabolic, and adrenergic modulating compounds at physiologic and pharmacologic doses. Recent investigations report increasing recognition of relative or absolute adrenal insufficiency in critically ill patients and the impact of cortisol responsiveness as a predictor of outcome for the critically ill...

Clinical review: Critical care transport and austere critical care

The development of modern intensive care units (ICUs) has allowed the survival of patients with advanced illness and injury, although at a cost of substantial infrastructure. Natural disasters and military operations are two common situations that can create critically ill patients in an environment that is austere or has been rendered austere. This has driven the development of two related str...