No abstract

Acute, short-term hyperglycemia affects all major components of innate immunity and impairs the ability of the host to combat infection, even though certain distinctive proinflammatory alterations of the immune response can be observed under these conditions.

This study supports the value of adding present on admission codes and numerical laboratory values to administrative databases. Secondary abstraction of difficult-to-obtain key clinical findings adds little to the predictive power of risk-adjustment equations.

In the last three decades, Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has increased in incidence and severity in many countries worldwide. The increase in CDI incidence has been particularly apparent among surgical patients. Therefore, prevention of CDI and optimization of management in the surgical patient are paramount. An international multidisciplinary panel of experts from the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) updated its guidelines for management of CDI in surgical patients according to the most recent available literature. The update includes recent changes introduced in the management of this infection.

The charts of 480 patients with secondary bacterial peritonitis were reviewed. The antibiotics used were compared with the culture and sensitivity data obtained at surgery, and the outcomes of patients were evaluated. Patients treated with a single broad-spectrum antibiotic had a better outcome than patients treated with multiple drug treatment. Inadequate empiric antibiotic treatment was associated with poorer outcome than any other type of treatment. The outcome of this inadequate treatment group could not be improved by any antibiotic response to culture and sensitivity information after operation. Those patients treated with antibiotic coverage for anticipated organisms and having no cultures taken did as well as patients having cultures taken. Surgeons typically ignore culture data after operation, and only 8.8% of patients in this study had an appropriate change in antibiotic treatment after operation. A benefit from obtaining operative cultures could not be identified.

These data indicate that abdominal tenderness is not predictive of an abdominal injury and that patients with a negative CT scan after suspected blunt abdominal trauma do not benefit from hospital admission and prolonged observation.

Human sepsis is thought to be systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) that is activated by invasive infection. The multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is the identified failure of critical organ function in patients that have sustained SIRS. Because SIRS and MODS are consequences of the excessive activation of inflammation, extensive research and numerous clinical trials have pursued treatments that would modify the inflammatory response. This presentation reviews the normal local mechanisms of inflammation and provides a theoretical framework for the transition of the inflammatory process to a systemic level. Clinical trials with biomodulators to block or inhibit inflammation have generally failed to improve the outcomes in patients with severe sepsis, septic shock, and MODS. The role of counter-inflammatory signaling and the newer concept of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway are being investigated, and newer hypotheses are focusing upon the balancing of proinflammatory and counter-inflammatory mechanisms as important directions for newer therapies. It is concluded that failure to define novel and effective treatments reflects fundamental gaps in our understanding of inflammation and its regulation.

Patients with a cranial CT scan, obtained on a helical CT scanner, that shows no intracerebral injury and who do not have other body system injuries or a persistence of any neurologic finding can be safely discharged from the emergency department without a period of either inpatient or outpatient observation. Implementation of this practice could result in a potential decrease of more than 500,000 hospital admissions annually.