[Tracheostomy and prolonged artificial ventilation of patients after heart surgery].

Dysfunction of respiratory system after open heart surgery is one of the main problems in postoperative period. When mechanical ventilation is prolonged because of different causes, tracheostomy is usually performed, but the optimal time is still being discussed. In order to elucidate the influence of tracheostomy to subsequent course of disease we reviewed the indications, frequency and complications of postoperative tracheostomies performed in 1998-2000 in Cardiosurgical clinic after open heart surgery.

[Procalcitonin: a new infection marker. Its use in intensive care].

In daily routine diagnosis, there are few parameters available to monitor critically ill patients and to control the course of therapy in severe inflammations. There are also few reliable parameters differentiating acute bacterial infection from other types of inflammation. Most of the presently used indicators of the inflammatory response, like body temperature, white cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C reactive protein are unspecific parameters with changing reliability.