The PRESERVE score might help ICU physicians select appropriate candidates for ECMO among severe ARDS patients. Future studies should also focus on physical and psychosocial rehabilitation that could lead to improved HRQL in this population.

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Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients.The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance.The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria.An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs.

Isolation of Candida species appears to be an independent risk factor of mortality in nosocomial peritonitis but not in community-acquired peritonitis.

The principal results of EBIIA are a higher diversity of microorganisms isolated in nosocomial infections and decreased susceptibility among these strains. Despite this, the adequacy of treatment is comparable in the two groups.

IntroductionWe have almost no information concerning the value of inferior vena cava (IVC) respiratory variations in spontaneously breathing ICU patients (SBP) to predict fluid responsiveness.MethodsSBP with clinical fluid need were included prospectively in the study. Echocardiography and Doppler ultrasound were used to record the aortic velocity-time integral (VTI), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO) and IVC collapsibility index (cIVC) ((maximum diameter (IVCmax)– minimum diameter (IVCmin))/ IVCmax) at baseline, after a passive leg-raising maneuver (PLR) and after 500 ml of saline infusion.ResultsFifty-nine patients (30 males and 29 females; 57 ± 18 years-old) were included in the study. Of these, 29 (49 %) were considered to be responders (≥10 % increase in CO after fluid infusion). There were no significant differences between responders and nonresponders at baseline, except for a higher aortic VTI in nonresponders (16 cm vs. 19 cm, p = 0.03). Responders had a lower baseline IVCmin than nonresponders (11 ± 5 mm vs. 14 ± 5 mm, p = 0.04) and more marked IVC variations (cIVC: 35 ± 16 vs. 27 ± 10 %, p = 0.04). Prediction of fluid-responsiveness using cIVC and IVCmax was low (area under the curve for cIVC at baseline 0.62 ± 0.07; 95 %, CI 0.49-0.74 and for IVCmax at baseline 0.62 ± 0.07; 95 % CI 0.49-0.75). In contrast, IVC respiratory variations >42 % in SBP demonstrated a high specificity (97 %) and a positive predictive value (90 %) to predict an increase in CO after fluid infusion.ConclusionsIn SBP with suspected hypovolemia, vena cava size and respiratory variability do not predict fluid responsiveness. In contrast, a cIVC >42 % may predict an increase in CO after fluid infusion.

Four independent risk factors of yeast isolation in the peritoneal fluid were identified in critically ill surgical patients with peritonitis. The presence of at least three of these factors (grade C score) was associated with a high rate of yeast detection. This approach could be helpful to initiate early antifungal therapy in this patient population.

Inappropriate initial AB of VAP during the first 48 h increased ICU length of stay after VAP diagnosis and tended to increase crude hospital mortality despite equal severity of illness at the time of VAP diagnosis, when compared to appropriate initial AB in a population of 111 ICU patients.