Dyspnea is a traumatic experience. Only limited information is available on dyspnea in intubated critically ill patients.
Our objectives were
) to quantify the prevalence and severity of dyspnea; and
...) to evaluate the impact of dyspnea on ICU length of stay and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 90 days after ICU discharge.
This was a prospective cohort study in 10 ICUs in France. In patients intubated for more than 24 hours, dyspnea was quantified with a visual analog scale (from 0 to 10) as soon as they were able to communicate, the following day, and before spontaneous breathing trials. PTSD was defined by an Impact of Event Scale-Revised score of at least 22.
Among the 612 patients assessed, 34% reported dyspnea, with a median dyspnea rating of 5 (interquartile range, 4-7). ICU length of stay was not significantly different between patients with versus without dyspnea (6 3-12 and 6 3-13 days, respectively;
= 0.781). Mortality was not different between groups. Of the 153 patients interviewed on Day 90, a higher proportion of individuals with probable PTSD was observed among patients who were dyspneic on enrollment (29% vs. 13%;
= 0.017). The density of dyspnea (number of dyspneic episodes divided by time from enrollment to extubation) was independently associated with PTSD (odds ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.13;
= 0.031).
Dyspnea was frequent and intense in intubated critically ill patients. ICU length of stay was not significantly different among patients reporting dyspnea, but PTSD was more frequent at Day 90. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02336464).
Purpose
Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is a treatment option in patients with acute respiratory failure who are good candidates for intensive care but have declined tracheal intubation. The aim of our ...study was to report outcomes after NIV in patients with a do-not-intubate (DNI) order.
Methods
Prospective observational cohort study in all patients who received NIV for acute respiratory failure in 54 ICUs in France and Belgium, in 2010/2011.
Results
Goals of care, comfort, and vital status were assessed daily. On day 90, a telephone interview with patients and relatives recorded health-related quality of life (HRQOL), posttraumatic stress disorder-related symptoms, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Post-ICU burden was compared between DNI patients and patients receiving NIV with no treatment-limitation decisions (TLD). Of 780 NIV patients, 574 received NIV with no TLD, and 134 had DNI orders. Hospital mortality was 44 % in DNI patients and 12 % in the no-TLD group. Mortality in the DNI group was lowest in COPD patients compared to other patients in the DNI group (34 vs. 51 %,
P
= 0.01). In the DNI group, HRQOL showed no significant decline on day 90 compared to baseline; day-90 data of patients and relatives did not differ from those in the no-TLD group.
Conclusions
Do-not-intubate status was present among one-fifth of ICU patients who received NIV. DNI patients who were alive on day 90 experienced no decrease in HRQOL compared to baseline. The prevalences of anxiety, depression, and PTSD-related symptoms in these patients and their relatives were similar to those seen after NIV was used as part of full-code management (clinicaltrial.govNCT01449331).
Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) requires a close "partnership" between a conscious patient and the patient's caregivers. Specific perceptions of NIV stakeholders and their impact have been poorly ...described to date. The objectives of this study were to compare the perceptions of NIV by intensive care unit (ICU) physicians, nurses, patients, and their relatives and to explore factors associated with caregivers' willingness to administer NIV and patients' and relatives' anxiety in relation to NIV.
This is a prospective, multicenter questionnaire-based study.
Three hundred and eleven ICU physicians, 752 nurses, 396 patients, and 145 relatives from 32 ICUs answered the questionnaire. Nurses generally reported more negative feelings and more frequent regrets about providing NIV (median score, 3; interquartile range, 1 to 5 vs. 1 1 to 5; P < 0.0001) compared to ICU physicians. Sixty-four percent of ICU physicians and only 32% of nurses reported a high level of willingness to administer NIV, which was independently associated with NIV case-volume and workload. A high NIV session-related level of anxiety was observed in 37% of patients and 45% of relatives. "Dyspnea during NIV," "long NIV session," and "the need to have someone at the bedside" were identified as independent risk factors of high anxiety in patients.
Lack of willingness of caregivers to administer NIV and a high level of anxiety of patients and relatives in relation to NIV are frequent in the ICU. Most factors associated with low willingness to administer NIV by nurses or anxiety in patients and relatives may be amenable to change. Interventional studies are now warranted to evaluate how to reduce these risk factors and therefore contribute to better management of a potentially traumatic experience. (Anesthesiology 2016; 124:1347-59).
•In a multicentric cohort of 59 patients suffering from severe COVID-19, ASL perfusion was abnormal in 53, hypoperfusion occurred in 48 (with a predominant fronto-temporo-polar pattern), whereas ...hyperperfusion occurred in 9.•Post-contrast FLAIR leptomeningeal enhancement was the only parameter with a significant association with cerebral perfusion, as it was tightly linked to hyperperfusion.•Frontotemporal hypoperfusion was also found in quantitative subgroup analysis compared to healthy subjects.
Cerebral hypoperfusion has been reported in patients with COVID-19 and neurological manifestations in small cohorts. We aimed to systematically assess changes in cerebral perfusion in a cohort of 59 of these patients, with or without abnormalities on morphological MRI sequences.
Patients with biologically-confirmed COVID-19 and neurological manifestations undergoing a brain MRI with technically adequate arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion were included in this retrospective multicenter study. ASL maps were jointly reviewed by two readers blinded to clinical data. They assessed abnormal perfusion in four regions of interest in each brain hemisphere: frontal lobe, parietal lobe, posterior temporal lobe, and temporal pole extended to the amygdalo-hippocampal complex.
Fifty-nine patients (44 men (75%), mean age 61.2 years) were included. Most patients had a severe COVID-19, 57 (97%) needed oxygen therapy and 43 (73%) were hospitalized in intensive care unit at the time of MRI. Morphological brain MRI was abnormal in 44 (75%) patients. ASL perfusion was abnormal in 53 (90%) patients, and particularly in all patients with normal morphological MRI. Hypoperfusion occurred in 48 (81%) patients, mostly in temporal poles (52 (44%)) and frontal lobes (40 (34%)). Hyperperfusion occurred in 9 (15%) patients and was closely associated with post-contrast FLAIR leptomeningeal enhancement (100% 66.4%-100% of hyperperfusion with enhancement versus 28.6% 16.6%-43.2% without, p = 0.002). Studied clinical parameters (especially sedation) and other morphological MRI anomalies had no significant impact on perfusion anomalies.
Brain ASL perfusion showed hypoperfusion in more than 80% of patients with severe COVID-19, with or without visible lesion on conventional MRI abnormalities.
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a visual aid on the discordance about prognosis between physicians and family members.
The study was performed in a general intensive care department with ...two 6-bed units. In the unit A, family members could consult a visual aid depicting day by day the evolution of global, hemodynamic, respiratory, renal and neurological conditions of the patient on a 10-point scale. In the unit B, they only received oral medical information. On day 7 of the ICU stay, the physician and family members estimated the prognosis of the patient among four proposals (life threatened; steady state but may worsen; steady state, should heal; will heal). Then we compared the rate of discordance about prognosis between physicians and family members in the two units.
Seventy-nine consecutive patients admitted in the intensive care department and still present at day 7, their family members and physicians, were enrolled. Patients in the two units were comparable in age, sex ratio, reason for admission, SAPS II at admission and SOFA score at day 7. In the unit A, physician-family members discordance about prognosis occurred for 12 out of 39 patients (31%) vs. 22 out of 40 patients (55%) in the unit B (P=0.04).
In our study, adding a visual aid depicting the evolution of the condition of critically ill patients day by day to classic oral information allowed the family to have an estimate of the prognosis less discordant with the estimate of the physician.
Background
This clinical study evaluated the effect of a suctioning maneuver on aspiration past the cuff during mechanical ventilation.
Methods
Patients intubated for less than 48 hours with a ...PVC-cuffed tracheal tube, under mechanical ventilation with a PEEP ≥5 cm H
2
O and under continuous sedation, were included in the study. At baseline the cuff pressure was set at 30 cm H
2
O. Then 0.5ml of blue dye diluted with 3 ml of saline was instilled into the subglottic space just above the cuff. Tracheal suctioning was performed using a 16-French suction catheter with a suction pressure of – 400 mbar. A fiberoptic bronchoscopy was performed before and after the suctioning maneuver, looking for the presence of blue dye in the folds within the cuff wall or in the trachea under the cuff. The sealing of the cuff was defined by the absence of leakage of blue dye either in the cuff wall or in the trachea under the cuff.
Results
Twenty-five patients were included. The size of the tracheal tube was 7-mm ID for 5 patients, 7.5-mm ID for 16 patients, and 8-mm ID for four patients. Blue dye was never seen in the trachea under the cuff before suctioning and only in one patient (4%) after the suctioning maneuver. Blue dye was observed in the folds within the cuff wall in 6 of 25 patients before suctioning and 11 of 25 after (
p
= 0.063). Overall, the incidence of sealing of the cuff was 76% before suctioning and 56% after (
p
= 0.073).
Conclusions
In patients intubated with a PVC-cuffed tracheal tube and under mechanical ventilation with PEEP ≥5 cm H2O and a cuff pressure set at 30 cm H2O, a single tracheal suctioning maneuver did not increase the risk of aspiration in the trachea under the cuff.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01170156
L'architecture des bibliothèques, point de départ ou d'aboutissement à l'existence même de celles-ci, cristallise les questionnements professionnels, et cela de manière encore plus aiguë à l'heure ...des mondes virtuels : quelles spécificités sont attachées à la construction de tels bâtiments culturels et comment envisager, dans l'architecture même, les évolutions du futur ? Quelles sont les attentes des professionnels, mais aussi des publics ? Comment peut-on insérer un projet de bibliothèque dans le maillage urbain et comment travailler avec les élus ? Pour répondre à ces questions, l'ouvrage Architecture et bibliothèque, 20 ans de constructions a réuni architectes, programmiste, journaliste spécialisée en architecture, conservateurs des bibliothèques, élus, et même dessinateur. Leurs discours s'entrecroisent, tissent un panorama de l'architecture des bibliothèques en France depuis plus de vingt ans et proposent quelques pistes de réflexion pour les évolutions à venir.