ICG-liver test versus new biomarkers as prognostic markers for prolonged length of stay in critically ill patients - a prospective study of accuracy for prediction of length of stay in the ICU.

Background: Prognostic abilities of medical parameters, which are scoring systems, measurements and biomarkers, are important for stratifying critically ill patients. Indocyanine green plasma disappearance (ICG-PDR) is an established clinical tool for the assessment of liver perfusion and function. Copeptin, MR-proANP and pro-ADM are biomarkers whose prognostic value is still unclear.

Noninvasive cardiac output and blood pressure monitoring cannot replace an invasive monitoring system in critically ill patients.

Background: Monitoring of cardiac output and blood pressure are standard procedures in critical care medicine. Traditionally, invasive techniques like pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) and arterial catheters are widely used. Invasiveness bears many risks of deleterious complications.