BackgroundThe aim of this study was to develop a scoring system for identifying the post-cardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS) patients with a good potential for recovery prior to the initiation of induced therapeutic hypothermia.MethodsA multi-center, retrospective, observational study was performed. Data of a total of 151 consecutive adults who underwent induced hypothermia after cardiac arrest (77 learning cases from two hospitals and 74 validation cases from two other hospitals) were analyzed.ResultsIn the learning set, 8 factors (initial rhythm, witnessed status and time until return of spontaneous circulation, pH, serum lactate, motor score according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), gray matter attenuation to white matter attenuation ratio (GWR), serum albumin, and hemoglobin) were found to be strongly correlated with the neurological outcomes. A tentative scoring system was created from the learning data using these factors, and the predictive accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) was evaluated in terms of both internal validation (0.85 and 0.84) and external validation (cutoff 50%: 0.95 and 0.90, 30%: 0.87 and 0.98, 15%: 0.67 and 1.00). Finally, using all the data, we established a post-Cardiac Arrest Syndrome for induced Therapeutic hypothermia (CAST) score to predict the neurologic prognosis prior to initiation of induced hypothermia.ConclusionsThe CAST score was developed to predict the neurological outcomes of PCAS patients treated by induced hypothermia. The likelihood of good recovery at 30 days was extremely low in PCAS patients with a CAST score of ≤15%. Prospective validation of the score is needed in the future.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13049-017-0392-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
We retrospectively analyzed data from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-III critical care database to determine whether visually-assessed right ventricular (RV) dysfunction was associated with clinical outcomes in septic shock patients. Associations between visually-assessed RV dysfunction by echocardiography and in-hospital mortality, lethal arrhythmia, and hemodynamic indicators to determine the prognostic value of RV dysfunction in patients with septic shock were analyzed. Propensity score analysis showed RV dysfunction was associated with increased risk of in-hospital death in patients with septic shock (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.99–2.32; P < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, RV dysfunction was associated with in-hospital death (OR 2.19; 95% CI 1.91–2.53; P < 0.001), lethal arrhythmia (OR 2.19; 95% CI 1.34–3.57; P < 0.001), and tendency for increased blood lactate levels (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.14–1.50; P < 0.001) independent of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. RV dysfunction was associated with lower cardiac output, pulmonary artery pressure index, and RV stroke work index. In patients with septic shock, visually-assessed RV dysfunction was associated with in-hospital mortality, lethal arrhythmia, and circulatory insufficiency independent of LV dysfunction. Visual assessment of RV dysfunction using echocardiography might help to identify the short-term prognosis of patients with septic shock by reflecting hemodynamic status.
We treated two patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation. Case 1 was a 73-year-old Japanese man. Computed tomography (CT) revealed ground-glass opacities in both lungs. He had severe respiratory failure with a partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood/fraction of inspiratory oxygen ratio (P/F ratio) of 203. Electrocardiogram showed a heart rate (HR) of 56 beats/min, slight ST depression in leads II, III, and aVF, and mild saddle-back type ST elevation in leads V1 and V2. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (cTnT) level was slightly elevated. Despite a high fever and hypoxemia, his HR remained within 50–70 beats/min. Case 2 was a 52-year-old Japanese woman. CT revealed ground-glass opacities in the lower left lung. Electrocardiogram showed a HR of only 81 beats/min, despite a body temperature of 39.2 °C, slight ST depression in leads V4, V5, V6, and a prominent U wave in multiple leads. She had an elevated cTnT and a P/F ratio of 165. Despite a high fever and hypoxemia, her HR remained within 50–70 beats/min. Both patients had a poor compensatory increase in their HR, despite their critical status. Relative bradycardia could be a cardiovascular complication and is an important clinical finding in patients with COVID-19.
<
Learning objective:
We report two Japanese cases of COVID-19 pneumonia with relative bradycardia as a condition and no significant compensatory increase in heart rate despite high fever and severe hypoxemia. Relative bradycardia in COVID-19 might be associated with myocardial injury due to not only direct viral involvement but also systemic inflammation. We should carefully observe the occurrence of relative bradycardia because it could potentially be a clinical sign of COVID-19.>
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.