Acute and Critical Care

Original Articles

Severe Health-care Associated Pneumonia among the Solid Cancer Patients on Chemotherapy: Maeng Real Park, So Young Park, Kyeongman Jeon, Won Jung Koh, Man Pyo Chung, Hojoong Kim, O Jung Kwon, Gee Young Suh, Jin Seok Ahn, Myung Ju Ahn, Ho Yeong Lim; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2009;24(3):140-144.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2009.24.3.140

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Abstract PDF: BACKGROUND
There are only inadequate studies on the characteristics of severe pneumonia in the patients who have solid cancer and who are treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy and also on the usefulness of the various severity index scores.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 31 patients who were treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy because of solid cancer and who were admitted to the medical ICU at Samsung Medical Center from April 2007 to August 2008.
RESULTS
The median age of the 31 patients was 64 years old (34-79). The types of solid cancer were lung cancer (19, 61.3%), gastroesophageal cancer (4, 12.9%), breast cancer (2, 6.5%), liver cancer (1, 3.2%), ovarian cancer (1, 3.2%) and other types of cancer (4, 12.9%). The hospital mortality rate was 64.5%. We were able to determine the pathogen of 19 (61.3%) patients; S. pneumoniae (6), S. aureus (3), Candida species (3), P. aeruginosa (2), K. pneumoniae (1), Pneumocystis jiroveci (1) and others (3). There were no statistically differences of the laboratory data and severity index scores (PSI, CURB-65, APACHE II, SOFA, SAPS 3) between the survivors and nonsurvivors, except the P/F ratio.
CONCLUSIONS
The hospital mortality rate of severe pneumonia in patients who had solid cancer and who received cytotoxic chemotherapy was high. The major pathogen was S. pneumoniae. The severity indexes for general pneumonia were not useful to these patients.

Infectious Complications in the Survivors of Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest: Seon Hee Woo, Woon Jeong Lee, Se Min Choi, Seung Pill Choi, Kyu Nam Park; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2009;24(1):22-27.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2009.24.1.22

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Abstract PDF: BACKGROUND
Infectious complications commonly occur in the survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of our study was to describe the incidence, associated factors and outcome of infectious complications of the survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
METHODS
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 75 patients who survived out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. We collected the data on the demographics, the modes of cardiac arrest, the duration of CPR, the dose of epinephrine, the use of hypothermia, new infections, the duration of mechanical ventilation, the length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), recovery of consciousness and the mortality.
RESULTS
New infections developed in 46.7% of the patients. Asystole was the most common rhythm (70.7%). The most common infectious complication was pneumonia (40.0%) urinary tract infection developed in 10 cases, vascular catheter local infection developed in 6 cases, primary blood stream infection developed in 3 cases, wound infection developed in 2 cases and pseudomembranous colitis developed in 1 case. The most common pathogens of pneumonia were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Blood cultures were obtained in 36 patients during the first 24 hr and the pathogen was isolated in three. The patients with infection had a longer duration of mechanical ventilation and a longer stay in the ICU (p < 0.001, p = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Infectious complications are common in survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and these infections are associated with a longer duration of mechanical ventilation and a longer stay in the ICU. The most common infectious complication was pneumonia and the pathogens of pneumonia were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

The Inhaled Nitric Oxide in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: from a Bedside to a Bench: Younsuck Koh; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2001;16(2):65-74.

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Abstract PDF: Because inhaled nitric oxide (NO) induces selective vasodilation of well-ventilated lung regions diverting pulmonary artery blood flow towards these well-ventilated alveoli, it has been applied to some of ARDS patients, who show severe hypoxemia despite of positive pressure ventilation with moderate to high positive end-expiratory pressure. The beneficial effect of inhaled NO on oxygenation was lower than 5 ppm of inhaled NO and the maximum effect was about 10 ppm in patients with ARDS according to the studies. Combinations of inhaled NO with various therapies, such as the use of intravenous almitrine or phenylephrine, and prone positioning may produce additive effects on oxygenation. Approximately 65% of patients had response to inhaled NO in studies of critically ill patients with ARDS who were ventilated with less than 40 ppm of inhaled NO. However, there was no survival benefit by inhaled NO in a multicenter phase 2 trial with 177 patients of non-septic ARDS. It is unclear whether inhaled NO exerts detrimental or beneficial effects in the pathogenesis of ARDS. Laboratory studies suggest that inhaled NO has important effects in reducing some forms of lung and tissue injury. If these effects are clinically significant, early and continued therapy with inhaled NO could potentially reduce the severity of some forms of lung injury. In contrast, NO and nitrite interacted with neutrophil myeloperoxidase to stimulate oxidative reactions during inflammation. In summary, NO inhalation would be acceptable as a rescue therapy in severe ARDS without serious complications related to the application. In addition, the effect of inhaled NO on the pathophysiology of ARDS should be elucidated.

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