Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Characteristics of Vancomycin and Meropenem in Critically Ill Patients Receiving Sustained Low-efficiency Dialysis.

Purpose: Antibiotic dosing is challenge in critically ill patients undergoing renal replacement therapy. Our aim was to evaluate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) characteristics of meropenem and vancomycin in patients undergoing SLED.

Methods: Consecutive ICU patients undergoing SLED and receiving meropenem and/or vancomycin were prospectively evaluated.

Clinical-care protocol for preventing mediastinitis after coronary artery bypass graft surgery: A quality improvement initiative from a private hospital.

Background: Surgical site infections after cardiac surgery are associated with severe outcomes, including reoperation and death. We aimed to describe the effect of a standardized clinical-care protocol for preventing mediastinitis in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).

Methods: In a hospital certified by Joint Commission International, all patients who underwent CABG from January 2011 to December 2016 were compared in two periods according to the moment of implementation of a standardized clinical-care protocol for prevention of mediastinitis (CCPPM): pre-protocol (January 2011-December 2012) and post-protocol (January 2013-December 2016).

Clinical Outcome and Antimicrobial Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for the Treatment of Infections in Acute Burn Patients.

Purpose: In critical burn patients, the pharmacokinetic parameters (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) of many classes of drugs, including antibiotics, are altered. The aim of this study was to compare 2 groups of burn patients undergoing treatment for health care-associated infections with and without therapeutic drug monitoring.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of a clinical intervention (ie, a before/after study) was conducted with patients with health care-associated pneumonia, burn infection, bloodstream infection, and urinary tract infection in the burn intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.

Surveillance culture for multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria: Performance in liver transplant recipients.

Background: The prevalence of infection with multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) after solid-organ transplantation is increasing. Surveillance culture (SC) seems to be an important tool for MDR-GNB control. The goal of this study was to analyze the performance of SC for MDR-GNB among liver transplant (LT) recipients.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii acquired before liver transplantation: Impact on recipient outcomes.

Infection with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) after liver transplantation (LT) is associated with high mortality. This study aimed to identify risk factors for post-LT CRAB infection, as well as to evaluate the impact of pre-LT CRAB acquisition on the incidence of post-LT CRAB infection. This was a prospective cohort study of all patients undergoing LT at our facility between October 2009 and October 2011.

Primary cutaneous cryptococcosis caused by Cryptococcus gattii in an immunocompetent host.

This paper presents the case of a 75-year-old Brazilian man who developed inflammatory skin lesions with nodules and ulcerations on the right forearm after an injury caused by handling barbed-wire and Eucalyptus spp. logs. Histopathological assessment of the lesions showed granulomatous processes with yeasts similar to Cryptococcus spp.