For decades, the standard technique for tracheostomy was the open, surgical technique. However, during the past 20 years, the use of percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy has been increased and shown to be a feasible and safe procedure in critically ill patients. The purpose of this report is to review the percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy technique, describe the role of bronchoscopy as g...

Care of the critically ill patient is becoming increasingly complex. Protocols, which standardize care of patients with similar diseases, represent a potential solution to managing multiple simultaneous problems in critically ill patients. In this article, we examine the advantages and disadvantages to care protocolization, and posit that careful and thoughtful implementation of protocols is li...

The homeostatic corrections that have emerged in the course of human evolution to cope with catastrophic events involve a complex multisystem endeavor, of which the endocrine contribution is an integral component. Although the repertoire of endocrine changes has been probed in some detail, discerning the vulnerabilities and failure of this system is far more challenging. The ensuing endocrine t...

Observational studies show an independent association between increased glycemic variability and higher mortality in critically ill patients. Minimization of glycemic variability is therefore suggested as a new target of glycemic control, which may require very frequent or almost continuous monitoring of glucose levels. Brunner and colleagues show the use of real-time subcutaneous continuous gl...

Pain is experienced by many critically ill patients. Although the patient's self-report represents the gold-standard measure for pain, many patients are unable to communicate in the ICU. In this commentary, we discuss the study findings comparing three objective scales for the assessment of pain in non-verbal patients and the importance of the tool selection process.

© 2012 Eslamian and Rahbar, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Neuromuscular Disorders in Critically-Ill Patients – Approaches to Electrophysi...

Introduction Critical illness is characterized by a dramatic loss of skeletal muscle mass which comprises to about 10% per week. This loss is mostly driven by an increased muscle protein breakdown, whereas synthesis rates are on average not changed [1]. However, this result limits to total muscle protein and does not elucidate whether different proteins behave differently. We have previously sh...