Management of severe sepsis in patients admitted to Asian intensive care units: prospective cohort study.

Objectives: To assess the compliance of Asian intensive care units and hospitals to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign's resuscitation and management bundles. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the impact of compliance on mortality and the organisational characteristics of hospitals that were associated with higher compliance.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Acquired tracheoesophageal fistula due to high intracuff pressure.

High-compliance endotracheal tube cuffs are used to prevent gas leak and also pulmonary aspiration in mechanically ventilated patients. However, the use of the usual cuff inflation volumes may cause tracheal damage and lead to tracheoesophageal fistula.Tracheostomy tube cuffs seal against the tracheal wall and prevent leakage of air around the tube, assuring that the tidal volume is delivered to the lungs.

Experience with 224 percutaneous dilatational tracheostomies at an adult intensive care unit in Bahrain: a descriptive study.

Unlabelled: Tracheostomy is one of the most commonly performed procedures in critically ill patients. Over the past 15 years, many large university hospitals have reported their experience with percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT). We have described and compared our experience with 224 PDTs that we performed in the last four and a half years.

Use of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation during pregnancy: case series.

Mechanical ventilation is commonly required in critically ill pregnant patients, requiring ICU admission, with higher morbidity and mortality related to airway management. Alternatively, noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) is increasingly used to treat nonpregnant patients. Pregnancy has been a contraindication to its use.