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Patients who increase stoke volume or cardiac index more than 10 or 15% after a fluid challenge are usually considered fluid responders. Assessment of fluid responsiveness prior to volume expansion is critical to avoid fluid overload, which has been associated with poor outcomes. Maneuvers to assess fluid responsiveness are well established in mechanically ventilated patients; however, few studies evaluated maneuvers to predict fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients. Our objective was to perform a systematic review of literature addressing the available methods to assess fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients. Studies were identified through electronic literature search of PubMed from 01/08/2009 to 01/08/2016 by two independent authors. No restrictions on language were adopted. Quality of included studies was evaluated with Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool. Our search strategy identified 537 studies, and 9 studies were added through manual search. Of those, 15 studies (12 intensive care unit patients; 1 emergency department patients; 1 intensive care unit and emergency department patients; 1 operating room) were included in this analysis. In total, 649 spontaneously breathing patients were assessed for fluid responsiveness. Of those, 340 (52%) were deemed fluid responsive. Pulse pressure variation during the Valsalva maneuver (∆PPV) of 52% (AUC ± SD: 0.98 ± 0.03) and passive leg raising-induced change in stroke volume (∆SV-PLR) > 13% (AUC ± SD: 0.96 ± 0.03) showed the highest accuracy to predict fluid responsiveness in spontaneously breathing patients. Our systematic review indicates that regardless of the limitations of each maneuver, fluid responsiveness can be assessed in spontaneously breathing patients. Further well-designed studies, with adequate simple size and power, are necessary to confirm the real accuracy of the different methods used to assess fluid responsiveness in this population of patients.

On June, 2016, Klompas and colleagues published an article in the entitled "Associations between different sedatives and ventilator-associated events, length of stay, and mortality in patients who were mechanically ventilated", which investigated the effects of different sedatives on ventilator-associated events (VAEs), length of stay, and mortality in patients who were mechanically ventilated. This study used data of over 9,603 patients in order to investigate patients over the age of 18 who underwent mechanical ventilation for more than 3 days over a 7-year period in a large academic medical center. The investigators found that propofol and dexmedetomidine were associated with less time to extubation compared with benzodiazepines, but dexmedetomidine was also associated with less time to extubation. propofol. This study raises important questions about the sedation of critically ill patients.

Background Annually, over 1 billion people sustain traumatic injuries, resulting in over 900,000 deaths in Africa and 6 million deaths globally. Timely response, intervention, and transportation in the prehospital setting reduce morbidity and mortality of trauma victims. Our objective was to describe the existing literature evaluating trauma morbidity and mortality outcomes as a function of prehospital care time to identify gaps in literature and inform future investigation. Main body We performed a scoping review of published literature in MEDLINE. Results were limited to English language publications from 2009 to 2020. Included articles reported trauma outcomes and prehospital time. We excluded case reports, reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, comments, editorials, letters, and conference proceedings. In total, 808 articles were identified for title and abstract review. Of those, 96 articles met all inclusion criteria and were fully reviewed. Higher quality studies used data derived from trauma registries. There was a paucity of literature from studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), with only 3 (3%) of articles explicitly including African populations. Mortality was an outcome measure in 93% of articles, predominantly defined as “in-hospital mortality” as opposed to mortality within a specified time frame. Prehospital time was most commonly assessed as crude time from EMS dispatch to arrival at a tertiary trauma center. Few studies evaluated physiologic morbidity outcomes such as multi-organ failure. Conclusion The existing literature disproportionately represents high-income settings and most commonly assessed in-hospital mortality as a function of crude prehospital time. Future studies should focus on how specific prehospital intervals impact morbidity outcomes (e.g., organ failure) and mortality at earlier time points (e.g., 3 or 7 days) to better reflect the effect of early prehospital resuscitation and transport. Trauma registries may be a tool to facilitate such research and may promote higher quality investigations in Africa and LMICs.

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Objective: To evaluate whether intravenous immunoglobulin reduces mortality and length of hospital stay in the treatment of neonatal sepsis. Sources:The MEDLINE database was searched. The keywords were combined using the following search strategy: [(sepsis OR shock, septic OR infection) AND immunoglobulins, intravenous] AND infant, newborn. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) showing good methodological quality and assessing the effect of adjuvant intravenous immunoglobulin in the treatment of neonatal sepsis were selected for inclusion and data analysis.Summary of the findings: Seven RCTs were selected. All of them evaluated the mortality rate, including 3,756 patients. The global effect of this outcome showed no statistically significant difference between the groups. Only five studies evaluated the mean length of hospital stay, including 3,672 patients. Although there is a statistically significant reduction of 1.24 days in the length of hospital stay with the use of intravenous immunoglobulin, such difference is clinically irrelevant and its high cost does not warrant its routine use in medical practice. The data reported in the present review contradict the review by Ohlsson et al., which was updated in 2010 and showed significant benefit with the use of intravenous immunoglobulin on both outcomes. Conclusions:We concluded that the use of adjuvant intravenous immunoglobulin shows no benefit regarding mortality, whereas the reduction in the length of hospital stay is irrelevant. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2012;88(5):377-83:Intravenous immunoglobulin, neonatal sepsis, septic shock, sepsis, infection, newborn infant. ResumoObjetivo: Avaliar se a imunoglobulina endovenosa reduz a mortalidade e o tempo de internação no tratamento da sepse neonatal. Fonte dos dados: 377378 Jornal de Pediatria -Vol. 88, N° 5, 2012 Uso da imunoglobulina endovenosa na sepse neonatal -Franco AC et al.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether early initiation of renal replacement therapy is associated with lower mortality in patients with acute kidney injury compared to delayed initiation.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing early versus delayed initiation of renal replacement therapy in patients with acute kidney injury without the life-threatening acute kidney injury-related symptoms of fluid overload or metabolic disorders. Two investigators extracted the data from the selected studies. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess the quality of the studies, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was used to test the overall quality of the evidence.ResultsSix randomized controlled trials (1,292 patients) were included. There was no statistically significant difference between early and delayed initiation of renal replacement therapy regarding the primary outcome (OR 0.82; 95%CI, 0.48 - 1.42; p = 0.488), but there was an increased risk of catheter-related bloodstream infection when renal replacement therapy was initiated early (OR 1.77; 95%CI, 1.01 - 3.11; p = 0.047). The quality of evidence generated by our meta-analysis for the primary outcome was considered low due to the risk of bias of the included studies and the heterogeneity among them.ConclusionEarly initiation of renal replacement therapy is not associated with improved survival. However, the quality of the current evidence is low, and the criteria used for -early- and -delayed- initiation of renal replacement therapy are too heterogeneous among studies.

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