AIM To assess the accuracy of serum procalcitionin (PCT) as a diagnostic marker in verifying upper and lower gastrointestinal perforation (GIP). METHODS This retrospective study included 46 patients from the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University who were confirmed to have GIP between June 2013 and December 2016. Demographic and clini...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether tentative prognostic models for intensive care unit survival of multiple trauma patients could be improved by including endocrine parameters. DESIGN Prospective study. PATIENTS Eighty-three male and 11 female multiple trauma patients. MEASUREMENTS Upon admission, severity of trauma was assessed with the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACH...

Background The quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) alone has a poor sensitivity for predicting mortality in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections, and plasma lactate levels have been shown to have a strong association with mortality in critically ill patients. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the performance of qSOFA with a score derived from a combination of ...

I n this issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Grissom and colleagues 1 present a comparison of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) 2 physi-ologic score vs a newly derived score, based on SOFA but less dependent on laboratory measurements, which they term the Modified Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (MSOFA). The impetus for the study was that SOFA, which has...

BACKGROUND Evidence-based guidelines for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) do not include strategies for fluid administration. The protocol used in this study includes albumin administration to maintain normal colloid osmotic pressure and advocates a neutral to slightly negative fluid balance. The aim of this study was to analyze the occurrence of organ failure and the mortality in patients w...

PURPOSE Over the last 30 years, Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) has emerged as an important pathogen, and a common cause of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors associated with mortality in patients with S. marcescens bacteremia. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of 98 patients who had one or more blood cultures positive f...

PURPOSE The reliable parameter, which can be obtained easily and quickly, is necessary to predict the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) of patients with cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) in the emergency situation. In this study, we evaluated the significance of albumin corrected anion gap (ACAG) for the prediction of ROSC in patients with CPA. PATIENTS AND METHODS In 166 patients with CPA ...

BACKGROUND Continuous veno-venous hemodialysis with high cut-off membranes (HCO-CVVHD) removes inflammatory mediators involved in organ dysfunction during sepsis. The aim of the present study was to assess the variations in SOFA score and identify early predictors of short-term mortality in a cohort of patients with septic shock, treated with HCO-CVVHD for acute kidney injury (AKI). METHODS A...