Mechanical insufflation/exsufflation improves respiratory mechanics in critical care: Randomized crossover trial.

This study evaluated the ventilatory and haemodynamic effects of the mechanical insufflator-exsufflator (MI-E) in critically ill patients. Sixteen mechanically ventilated patients performed three protocols: MI-E (-30/+30 cmHO) plus endotracheal suctioning; 50S: MI-E (-50/+50 cmH2O) plus endotracheal suctioning; and isolated endotracheal suctioning (IES). The protocols were applied randomly in all subjects, with 3 -h intervals in between.

Serum Biomarkers and Clinical Outcomes in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: A plethora of reactive cellular responses emerge immediately after a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and may influence the patient's outcomes. We investigated whether serum concentrations of neuron-specific enolase, interleukin-6, glial-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophic growth factor reflect the acute-phase responses to different etiologies of SCI and may serve as predictive biomarkers of neurologic and functional outcomes.

Methods: Fifty-two patients were admitted to the intensive care unit after SCI due to traffic accidents, falls, and firearm wounds and had blood samples collected within 48 hours and 7 days after SCI.

Comparison of Mechanical Insufflation-Exsufflation and Endotracheal Suctioning in Mechanically Ventilated Patients: Effects on Respiratory Mechanics, Hemodynamics, and Volume of Secretions.

Context: Cough assist (CA) is a device to improve bronchial hygiene of patients with secretion in the airways and ineffective cough.

Aims: To compare the physiological effects and the volume of secretion of mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (CA device) with isolated endotracheal suctioning in mechanically ventilated patients.

Settings And Design: Randomized crossover trial.

Simple motor tasks independently predict extubation failure in critically ill neurological patients.

Objective:: To evaluate the usefulness of simple motor tasks such as hand grasping and tongue protrusion as predictors of extubation failure in critically ill neurological patients.

Methods:: This was a prospective cohort study conducted in the neurological ICU of a tertiary care hospital in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Adult patients who had been intubated for neurological reasons and were eligible for weaning were included in the study.

Reflex cough PEF as a predictor of successful extubation in neurological patients.

Objective: To evaluate the use of reflex cough PEF as a predictor of successful extubation in neurological patients who were candidates for weaning from mechanical ventilation.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 135 patients receiving mechanical ventilation for more than 24 h in the ICU of Cristo Redentor Hospital, in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Reflex cough PEF, the rapid shallow breathing index, MIP, and MEP were measured, as were ventilatory, hemodynamic, and clinical parameters.

Readmissions and deaths following ICU discharge: a challenge for intensive care.

Objectives: Identify patients at risk for intensive care unit readmission, the reasons for and rates of readmission, and mortality after their stay in the intensive care unit; describe the sensitivity and specificity of the Stability and Workload Index for Transfer scale as a criterion for discharge from the intensive care unit.

Methods: Adult, critical patients from intensive care units from two public hospitals in Porto Alegre, Brazil, comprised the sample. The patients' clinical and demographic characteristics were collected within 24 hours of admission.

Validity and reproducibility of the measurements obtained using the flexicurve instrument to evaluate the angles of thoracic and lumbar curvatures of the spine in the sagittal plane.

Objective. to verify the validity and reproducibility of using the flexicurve to measure the angles of the thoracic and lumbar curvatures. Method.