Aspergillus detection in airways of ICU COVID-19 patients: To treat or not to treat?

It is now well known that patients with severe COVID-19 are at risk for developing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Nevertheless, the symptomatology of IPA is often atypical in mechanically ventilated patients and the radiological aspects of SARS CoV-2 pneumonia and IPA are difficult to differentiate. In this context, the significance of the presence of Aspergillus in respiratory tract samples (detected by culture, galactomannan antigen, or specific PCR) is not yet fully understood.

In-hospital cardiac arrests admitted alive in intensive care units: Insights from the CubRéa database.

Background: In-hospital cardiac arrest(IHCA) has received little attention compared with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Aim: To address the paucity of data on IHCA patients, we examined key features, variations in mortality and predictors of death among patients admitted in French intensive care units(ICUs) from 1997 to 2015.

Methods: Using the database of the Collège des Utilisateurs de Bases de données en Réanimation(CUB-Réa) that prospectively collects data from ICUs in the greater Paris area, we determined temporal trends in the incidence of IHCA, patients' outcomes, crude and Simplified Acute Physiology Score(SAPS)-II Standardized mortality and predictors of in-ICU mortality.

Fungal infections in mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 during the first wave: the French multicentre MYCOVID study.

Background: Patients with severe COVID-19 have emerged as a population at high risk of invasive fungal infections (IFIs). However, to our knowledge, the prevalence of IFIs has not yet been assessed in large populations of mechanically ventilated patients. We aimed to identify the prevalence, risk factors, and mortality associated with IFIs in mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 under intensive care.

A review of significance of Aspergillus detection in airways of ICU COVID-19 patients.

It is now well known that patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted in ICU and mechanically ventilated are at risk of developing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Nevertheless, symptomatology of IPA is often atypical in mechanically ventilated patients, and radiological aspects in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and IPA are difficult to differentiate. In this context, the significance of the presence of Aspergillus in airway specimens (detected by culture, galactomannan antigen or specific PCR) remains to be fully understood.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections are associated with a higher energy deficit than other ICU-acquired bacteremia.

Purpose: Caloric insufficiency during the first week of intensive care unit (ICU) stay was reported to be associated with increased infection rates, especially ICU-acquired bloodstream infection (ICU-BSI). However, the predisposition to ICU-BSI by a given pathogen remains not well known. We aimed to determine the impact of early energy-calorie deficit on the pathogens responsible for ICU-BSI.

Impact of morbidity and mortality conferences on analysis of mortality and critical events in intensive care practice.

Background: Morbidity and mortality conferences are a tool for evaluating care management, but they lack a precise format for practice in intensive care units.

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of regular morbidity and mortality conferences specific to intensive care units for improving quality of care and patient safety.

Methods: For 1 year, a prospective study was conducted in an 18-bed intensive care unit.

Postoperative mediastinitis due to Finegoldia magna with negative blood cultures.

We report a case of Finegoldia magna (formerly known as Peptostreptococcus magnus) mediastinitis following coronary artery bypass in a 50-year-old patient. Even if staphylococci remain the main causative organism of postoperative mediastinitis, the responsibility of anaerobic bacteria must be considered in cases of fever and sternal drainage with negative blood cultures.

Airway colonisation in long-term mechanically ventilated patients. Effect of semi-recumbent position and continuous subglottic suctioning.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of continuous subglottic suctioning and semi-recumbent body position on bacterial colonisation of the lower respiratory tract.

Design: A randomised controlled trial.

Setting: The ten-bed medical ICU of a French university hospital.

Critically ill old and the oldest-old patients in intensive care: short- and long-term outcomes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine characteristics and outcome of the old, very old and oldest-old ICU patients DESIGN. This is a cohort study.

Setting: The study was set in a ten-bed medical ICU in a university hospital.