Publications by authors named "Brunkhorst F"

Background: Extracorporeal blood purification with CytoSorb has been increasingly used as an adjunctive therapy in several hyperinflammatory critical care conditions, as well as to remove elevated levels of myoglobin or bilirubin in patients with rhabdomyolysis or liver failure. Despite the increasing worldwide use of hemoadsorption, data from large international multicenter studies are still lacking.

Objective: The COSMOS (CytoSorb Treatment Of Critically Ill Patients) registry is a company-sponsored registry by CytoSorbents Corporation and CytoSorbents Medical Inc.

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Background: Whether intensive glucose control reduces mortality in critically ill patients remains uncertain. Patient-level meta-analyses can provide more precise estimates of treatment effects than are currently available.

Methods: We pooled individual patient data from randomized trials investigating intensive glucose control in critically ill adults.

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Introduction: Sepsis remains the major cause of death among hospitalised patients in intensive care. While targeting sepsis-causing pathogens with source control or antimicrobials has had a dramatic impact on morbidity and mortality of sepsis patients, this strategy remains insufficient for about one-third of the affected individuals who succumb. Pharmacological targeting of mechanisms that reduce sepsis-defining organ dysfunction may be beneficial.

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Background: Ferritin is an established biomarker in the diagnosis of secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), which is diagnosed by the HLH-2004 criteria. Among these criteria, detection of hemophagocytosis through invasive procedures may delay early life saving treatment. Our aim was to investigate the value of hemophagocytosis in diagnosing HLH in critically ill patients.

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Objective: The optimal target for blood glucose concentration in critically ill patients is unclear. We will perform a systematic review and meta-analysis with aggregated and individual patient data from randomized controlled trials, comparing intensive glucose control with liberal glucose control in critically ill adults.

Data Sources: MEDLINE®, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, and clinical trials registries (World Health Organization, clinical trials.

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Sepsis is characterised by a dysregulated host immune response to infection. Despite recognition of its significance, immune status monitoring is not implemented in clinical practice due in part to the current absence of direct therapeutic implications. Technological advances in immunological profiling could enhance our understanding of immune dysregulation and facilitate integration into clinical practice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of simvastatin in critically ill Covid-19 patients compared to a control group not receiving statins.
  • A total of 2684 patients were analyzed, showing a median of 11 organ support-free days in the simvastatin group versus 7 in the control group, with a high probability indicating simvastatin’s potential superiority.
  • However, the study was halted due to decreasing Covid-19 cases, and while simvastatin had some benefits, it also led to more reported serious adverse effects, such as elevated liver enzymes.
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Importance: The efficacy of vitamin C for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is uncertain.

Objective: To determine whether vitamin C improves outcomes for patients with COVID-19.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Two prospectively harmonized randomized clinical trials enrolled critically ill patients receiving organ support in intensive care units (90 sites) and patients who were not critically ill (40 sites) between July 23, 2020, and July 15, 2022, on 4 continents.

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This second position paper of the Section Metabolism and Nutrition of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) provides recommendations on the laboratory monitoring of macro- and micronutrient intake as well as the use of indirect calorimetry in the context of medical nutrition therapy of critically ill adult patients. In addition, recommendations are given for disease-related or individual (level determination) substitution and (high-dose) pharmacotherapy of vitamins and trace elements.

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Article Synopsis
  • Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) could lead to worse outcomes for COVID-19 patients, prompting a study to see if ACE inhibitors or ARBs could help.
  • In a clinical trial with 721 patients, participants were randomly assigned to receive either an ACE inhibitor, an ARB, or no RAS inhibitor to evaluate their effects on patient recovery.
  • Results showed no significant improvement in organ support-free days among the treatment groups compared to the control, leading to the discontinuation of enrollment due to safety concerns.
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Background: Elevated serum ferritin is a common condition in critically ill patients. It is well known that hyperferritinemia constitutes a good biomarker for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in critically ill patients. However, further differential diagnoses of hyperferritinemia in adult critically ill patients remain poorly investigated.

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Importance: The longer-term effects of therapies for the treatment of critically ill patients with COVID-19 are unknown.

Objective: To determine the effect of multiple interventions for critically ill adults with COVID-19 on longer-term outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prespecified secondary analysis of an ongoing adaptive platform trial (REMAP-CAP) testing interventions within multiple therapeutic domains in which 4869 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 were enrolled between March 9, 2020, and June 22, 2021, from 197 sites in 14 countries.

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Background: Intraoperative hypotension is common in patients having non-cardiac surgery and is associated with serious complications and death. However, optimal intraoperative blood pressures for individual patients remain unknown. We therefore aim to test the hypothesis that personalized perioperative blood pressure management-based on preoperative automated blood pressure monitoring-reduces the incidence of a composite outcome of acute kidney injury, acute myocardial injury, non-fatal cardiac arrest, and death within 7 days after surgery compared to routine blood pressure management in high-risk patients having major abdominal surgery.

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The aim of the current paper is to summarize the results of the International CytoSorb Registry. Data were collected on patients of the intensive care unit. The primary endpoint was actual in-hospital mortality compared to the mortality predicted by APACHE II score.

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Importance: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a common and potentially severe infectious disease (ID). Retrospective studies and derived meta-analyses suggest that bedside infectious disease consultation (IDC) for SAB is associated with improved survival; however, such IDCs might not always be possible because of the lack of ID specialists, particularly at nonacademic hospitals.

Objectives: To investigate whether unsolicited telephone IDCs (triggered by an automated blood stream infection reporting system) to nonacademic hospitals improved 30-day all-cause mortality in patients with SAB.

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At the time of admission to an intensive or intermediate care unit, assessment of the patients' nutritional status may have both prognostic and therapeutic relevance with regard to the planning of individualized medical nutrition therapy (MNT). MNT has definitely no priority in the initial treatment of a critically ill patient, but is often also neglected during the course of the disease. Especially with prolonged length of stay, there is an increasing risk of malnutrition with considerable prognostic macro- and/or micronutrient deficit.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess whether antiplatelet therapy, specifically aspirin or P2Y12 inhibitors, improves outcomes for critically ill COVID-19 patients compared to no treatment.
  • Involved a total of 1557 adult patients across 105 sites in 8 countries, monitored over 90 days, with patients randomly assigned to receive either aspirin, a P2Y12 inhibitor, or no treatment.
  • Findings indicated that both aspirin and P2Y12 inhibitor groups showed similar efficacy in terms of organ support-free days, meeting criteria for equivalence in their effectiveness.
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Background: Cardiac surgery often represents the only treatment option in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). However, IE surgery may lead to a sudden release of inflammatory mediators, which is associated with postoperative organ dysfunction. We investigated the effect of hemoadsorption during IE surgery on postoperative organ dysfunction.

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Background: Our aim is to report the results of the 'liver indication' subset of patients in the CytoSorb International Registry.

Methods: Structured data were recorded. Treatment characteristics and changes from T1 (start of hemoadsorption) to T2 (termination) were evaluated with a special focus on bilirubin, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, platelet levels, SOFA scores, mortality, and subjective assessment by the attending physicians.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of convalescent plasma in improving outcomes for critically ill COVID-19 patients, as previous evidence was unclear.
  • A total of 4,763 adults were enrolled in a trial, with 1,084 receiving convalescent plasma and 916 not receiving it, within 48 hours after randomization.
  • The primary outcomes measured were organ support-free days and survival rates, using a Bayesian statistical model to evaluate the results and determine the efficacy of the treatment.
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Background: Monitoring pathogens of bloodstream infections (BSI) and their antibiotic susceptibility is important to guide empiric antibiotic treatment strategies and prevention programs. This study assessed the epidemiology of BSI and antibiotic resistance patterns at the German Federal State of Thuringia longitudinally.

Methods: A surveillance network consisting of 26 hospitals was established to monitor BSIs from 01/2015 to 12/2019.

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  • A clinical trial investigated whether therapeutic-dose anticoagulation could improve outcomes for critically ill patients with severe Covid-19 compared to standard thromboprophylaxis.
  • The study found no significant difference in organ support-free days between the two groups, with the anticoagulation group showing a median of 1 day compared to 4 days for the usual-care group.
  • The trial was halted due to a high probability of futility, with similar hospital discharge survival rates and a slightly higher occurrence of major bleeding in the anticoagulation group.
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Background: Thrombosis and inflammation may contribute to the risk of death and complications among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). We hypothesized that therapeutic-dose anticoagulation may improve outcomes in noncritically ill patients who are hospitalized with Covid-19.

Methods: In this open-label, adaptive, multiplatform, controlled trial, we randomly assigned patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19 and who were not critically ill (which was defined as an absence of critical care-level organ support at enrollment) to receive pragmatically defined regimens of either therapeutic-dose anticoagulation with heparin or usual-care pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis.

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Background: Ferritin is the major iron storage protein and an acute phase reactant. Hyperferritinemia is frequently seen in the critically ill where it has been hypothesized that not only underlying conditions but also factors such as transfusions, hemodialysis and extracorporeal life support (ECLS) lead to hyperferritinemia. This study aims to investigate the influence of transfusions, hemodialysis, and ECLS on hyperferritinemia in a multidisciplinary ICU cohort.

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Purpose: To study the efficacy of lopinavir-ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: Critically ill adults with COVID-19 were randomized to receive lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, combination therapy of lopinavir-ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine or no antiviral therapy (control). The primary endpoint was an ordinal scale of organ support-free days.

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