When indicating ECMO in patients with COVID-19, centre case volume, age, driving pressure and the duration of symptoms (not the length of MV) should be taken into account. Large drainage cannula and high PEEP levels during the first days are recommended.
Purpose: We sought to study the association between afterhours ICU admission and ICU mortality considering measures of strained ICU capacity. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of 4141 admissions to 2 ICUs in Lisbon, Portugal (06/2016-06/2018). Primary exposure was ICU admission on 20:00 h-07:59 h. Primary outcome was ICU mortality. Measures of strained ICU capacity were: bed occupancy rate ≥ 90% and...
Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a syndrome characterized by an acute deterioration of a patient with cirrhosis, frequently associated with multi-organ failure and a high short-term mortality rate. We present a retrospective study that aims to characterize the presentation, evolution, and outcome of patients diagnosed with ACLF at our center over the last 3 years, with a comparative analysis between the...
PURPOSE: Characterize the nutritional risk of critically ill patients with the modified NUTrition Risk in the Critically ill (NUTRIC) score. MATERIALS: National, multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted in 15 polyvalent Portuguese intensive care unit (ICU), during 6 months. Adult patients were eligible. Those transferred from another ICU or readmitted, brain dead at admission, and with length of ...
Objective. To access the incidence of infectious problems after liver transplantation (LT). Design. A retrospective, single-center study. Materials and Methods. Patients undergoing LT from January 2008 to December 2011 were considered. Exclusion criterion was death occurring in the first 48 hours after LT. We determined the site of infection and the bacterial isolates and collected and compared recipient’s vari...
In a liver transplant (LT) center, treatments with Prometheus were evaluated. The main outcome considered was 1 and 6 months survival. Methods. During the study period, 74 patients underwent treatment with Prometheus; 64 were enrolled,with a mean age of 51 13 years; 47men underwent 212 treatments (mean, 3.02 per patient). The parameters evaluated were age, sex, laboratorial (liver enzymes, ammonia) and clinical...
Pheochromocytoma crisis typically presents as paroxysmal episodes of headache, tachycardia, diaphoresis or hypertension. We describe an uncommon case of recurrent non-hypertensive heart failure with systolic dysfunction in a young female due to pheochromocytoma compression. It presented as acute pulmonary oedema while straining during pregnancy and later on as cardiogenic shock after a recreational body massage...