View clinical trials related to Critical Illness.
Filter by:How to determine the decision-making capacity of critically-ill patients remain unclear. The investigator study the differences between standardised evaluation and subjective medical evaluation.
This study is being conducted to evaluate the safety, tolerability and early efficacy of IV TD 8954 compared to metoclopramide in critically ill subjects, aged 18 to 85 years, who are admitted to the intensive care require mechanical ventilation, and are intolerant to enteral feeding.
Diaphragmatic dysfunction is an important complication of mechanical ventilation. Critically ill patients admitted in a teaching hospital intensive care unit will be evaluated with diaphragm ultrasound to investigate predictors of diaphragmatic dysfunction and the clinical course of these patients. Vascular surgery patients (aortic abdominal surgery) might also be included and assessed with diaphragm ultrasound before and after surgery irrespectively of the need of intensive care unit. On December 2014 the Etical committee approved an amendment to include the possibility to study elective aortic abdominal surgery patient to assess the relationship between surgery related diaphragmatic dysfunction and postoperative respiratory complications.
Background: Few studies have addressed the situation of procedural pain and the use of preemptive analgesia for turning in patients under mechanical ventilation. Aim: Evaluation effect of preemptive fentanyl on the incidence of pain during turning maneuvers in critically ill patients under mechanical ventilation. Design: Single-center clinical trial, national, randomized, double-blind, with a parallel group, and two arms of treatment: saline placebo and fentanyl. Primary Endpoint: Incidence of pain during the turning procedures that are carried out by nurses measured by means of the Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS). Study Population: Critically ill patients, age > 18 years, admitted to ICU and expected to require mechanical ventilation for at least 24 h. Sample Size: 80 patients divided into the two groups (40 patients each). Statistical Analysis: A preliminary descriptive analysis will be carried. Later, results of primary end point will be comparing after the eventual corrections of corresponding variables using a multivariable approach. The AUC variable will be analyzed by a t-test for unpaired data. A second analysis using a multivariate approach will be carried out for those factors considered as clinically relevant in relation to pain and therefore a logistic regression will be used. Ethical Considerations: The study will be strictly conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki and the protocol and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure compliance with the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) standards. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the valid informed consent from the guardian / legal representative, as the patient's condition will not allow to consent. Before obtaining the consent the investigator will explain to each guardian / legal representative the nature of the study, its purpose, the procedures, the estimated duration, the potential risks and benefits associated with the participation, as well as any inconvenience that this may involve. Duration of Treatment: The treatment has a maximum duration of 60 min for each patient. The follow-up includes visits and has duration of 6 consecutive days. Safety Assessment: Potential side effects of treatments will be recorded. Frequent adverse effects of fentanyl administration include respiratory depression, apnea, muscle rigidity, bradycardia and transient hypotension.
The investigators hypothesized that PVC tapered-cuff tracheal tubes would reduce microaspiration of gastric content as determined by pepsin level in tracheal aspirate.
The purpose of this study is to improve care delivered to patients with serious illness by enhancing communication among patients, families, and clinicians in the outpatient setting. We are testing a new way to help patients share their preferences for talking about end-of-life care with their clinicians and families. To do this we created a simple, short feedback form. The form is designed to help clinicians understand what patients would like to talk about. The goal of this research study is to show that using a feedback form is possible and can be helpful for patients and their families.
The purpose of the present study is to determine whether administration of aminoglycosides in septic critically ill patient is a risk factor for acute kidney injury
The purpose of this study is to measure the dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system in modulating the heart rate variability and baroreflex control in critically ill.
To diagnose acid base disturbances using blood gas analysis, multiple approaches are currently in use. These include the classic Henderson-Hasselbach bicarbonate approach and the physiochemical approach by Stewart1. All have shown to be mathematically compatible2. Diagnosing the metabolic component of acid base disturbances relies on the assessment of the so called ion gaps: the anion gap for the classic acid-base approach and the strong ion difference (SID) for the Stewart approach. This gap may unveil unidentified anions to provide a more accurate diagnosis. In particular they allow differentiating between relative hyperchloremia and other strong ions such as lactate, ketones, salicylates, citrate and ethylene glycol3. The accuracy of both gaps relies on the estimation of the weak acid dissociation: A-. This A- is dependent on the total concentration of weak acids (Atot) of which albumin is the most important and the effective dissociation constant for these (Ka), which determines the dissociated fraction of the Atot. This dissociation fraction needs to be accounted for in the ion gaps. This is reflected in the recommendation to correct the anion gap for albumin and incorporated in the SID which includes a factor for albumin by design3,4. However, the correction factor for albumin is currently based on data from animals and healthy volunteers4-9. In the critically ill albumin and protein content are very different compared to healthy volunteers, most notably in sepsis. Further, it is unknown if subunit composition of albumin is different in these patients. In addition, different protein species may be either up or downregulated in the critically ill1,8,9.Therefore from a pathophysiological point of view Atot and Ka and thus A- may differ in the critically ill. However it has not been previously investigated if and to what extent these matters affect Atot and Ka and therefore A- in this population. In addition, previous studies looking into this values showed a higher than expected value of unmeasured anions from the gap calculations. Despite rigorous experimental effort including high performance liquid chromatography, the origin of these unmeasured anions have not yet been elucidated17-20. However if the assumptions made in the Stewarts approach would not be valid, the existence of these unknown anions may have to be questioned. Thus it is of great interest to experimentally determine the exact contribution of the weak acids and their dissociation in sepsis. This could have major implications for these patients because different assumptions will ultimately lead to alterations in their calculated anion gap or SID. This may reduce unnecessary diagnostic test, alter final diagnosis and hence alter therapy. In this study the investigators aim to experimentally determine the Atot and Ka and thus their dissociated fraction A- in critically ill septic patients admitted to the intensive care unit by using in vitro CO2 tonometry, plasma dialysis and Marquardt regression analysis. In addition, as a control the investigators will do the same for patients admitted to the intensive care after routine cardiac surgery. Furthermore Atot and Ka values for both groups will be compared to values obtained from human volunteers in a previous study4. To achieve this, the investigators will plot CO2 versus pH titration curves from plasma samples of these patients. The investigators will then use Marquardt nonlinear regression analysis to quantify Atot and Ka and the SID by simultaneously solving for these parameters21. To make the quantification for Atot and Ka more robust, the investigators will also perform the same experiments after dialyzing the obtained plasma samples against a crystalloid solution of known composition in order to eliminate errors related to estimation of the SID. Finally, Atot and Ka values for both groups will be compared to values obtained from human volunteers in a previous study4. For application in the bicarbonate and base excess centred frameworks, Atot and Ka values will be related to albumin and protein content to update the correction factor for the anion gap in critically ill.
Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) traditionally receive bed rest as part of their care. They develop muscle weaknesses even after only a few days of mechanical ventilation that may prolong their time in ICU and in hospital, delay functional recovery and delay their return home and to work. Weakness may be avoided with simple strategies of early exercise in ICU. This pilot study aims to test the hypothesis that early mobilisation may improve functional recovery in this patient group and gather pilot data to support a larger randomised trial across Australia and New Zealand.