The acute effectiveness and safety of the constant-flow, pressure-volume curve to improve hypoxemia in acute lung injury.

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of the constant-flow, pressure-volume curve (PVC) to prescribe positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) in acute lung injury (ALI) and risk of cardiopulmonary deterioration during the PVC process.

Design: A retrospective, cohort study.

Setting: A surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary, university hospital.

Reduced mortality with noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring of shock.

Purpose: This study compared clinical outcomes associated with exposure to pulmonary artery catheters (PACs), central venous catheters (CVCs), arterial pressure waveform analysis for cardiac output (APCO), or no central monitoring (NCM) in patients with shock.

Materials And Methods: We assessed 6929 consecutive patients from 2003 to 2006 within a surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital, identifying 237 mechanically ventilated patients with shock.

Results: Adjusted for severity of illness, use of APCO monitoring, compared with other options, was associated with reduced intensive care unit mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.