Immunological sub-phenotypes and response to convalescent plasma in COVID-19 induced ARDS: a secondary analysis of the CONFIDENT trial.

Background: Convalescent plasma (CP) reduced the mortality in COVID-19 induced ARDS (C-ARDS) patients treated in the CONFIDENT trial. As patients are immunologically heterogeneous, we hypothesized that clusters may differ in their treatment responses to CP.

Methods: We measured 20 cytokines, chemokines and cell adhesion markers using a multiplex technique at the time of inclusion in the CONFIDENT trial in patients of centers having accepted to participate in this secondary study.

A dose-adjusted, open-label, pilot study of the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of STC3141 in critically ill patients with sepsis.

Increased circulating histones correlate with sepsis severity and are a potential therapeutic target. Pre-clinical studies showed benefit with a histone-neutralizing polyanion molecule (STC3141). We aimed to investigate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of STC3141 in critically ill patients with sepsis.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae fungemias: how heterogenous is their management?

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a yeast used mainly as a probiotic for prevention or treatment of diarrhoea. However, the prevalence of S. cerevisiae fungemia has risen over the past years, notably among patients with predisposing factors.

Clinical and molecular epidemiological features of critically ill patients with invasive group A Streptococcus infections: a Belgian multicenter case-series.

Background: Recent alerts have highlighted an increase in group A streptococcal (GAS) infections since 2022 in Europe and the United States. Streptococcus pyogenes can cause limited skin or mucosal disease, but can also present as severe invasive disease necessitating critical care. We performed a multicenter retrospective study of patients with GAS infections recently admitted to Belgian intensive care units (ICUs) since January 2022.

A reactive monocyte subset characterized by low expression of CD91 is expanded during sterile and septic inflammation.

Objectives: This study was undertaken to assess CD91 expression on monocytes and changes in monocyte subset distribution during acute tissue damage and bloodstream infection (BSI).

Methods: We investigated blood specimens from healthy individuals, trauma and cardiac surgery patients as a model of tissue damage, and patients with BSI, by flow cytometry using a panel of antibodies comprising CD45, HLA-DR, CD14, CD16 and CD91 for the identification of monocyte subsets.

Results: While infrequent in healthy subjects, CD91low/neg monocyte levels were markedly high in BSI, trauma and after cardiac surgery.

Critically Ill Patients with Visceral Nocardia Infection, France and Belgium, 2004-2023.

We studied 50 patients with invasive nocardiosis treated during 2004-2023 in intensive care centers in France and Belgium. Most (65%) died in the intensive care unit or in the year after admission. Nocardia infections should be included in the differential diagnoses for patients in the intensive care setting.

[Does a rapid antibiotic susceptibility test optimize antibiotic therapy of patients with bacteremia ?].

Background: We evaluated the contribution of a rapid antibiotic susceptibility test performed directly from a positive blood culture (PBC), the dRAST™, in the management of patients with bacteremia.

Methods: We retrospectively compared the time from sampling to availability of antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) results («time-to-result», TTR) between dRAST™ and classic AST (Vitek®2), in 150 patients with bacteremia. The antibiotic treatment of these 150 patients was classified into three categories (optimal, suboptimal, ineffective) according to the time of availability of AST results.

Convalescent Plasma for Covid-19-Induced ARDS in Mechanically Ventilated Patients.

Background: Passive immunization with plasma collected from convalescent patients has been regularly used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Minimal data are available regarding the use of convalescent plasma in patients with Covid-19-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Methods: In this open-label trial, we randomly assigned adult patients with Covid-19-induced ARDS who had been receiving invasive mechanical ventilation for less than 5 days in a 1:1 ratio to receive either convalescent plasma with a neutralizing antibody titer of at least 1:320 or standard care alone.

Prospective flow cytometry analysis of leucocyte subsets in critically ill patients who develop sepsis: a pilot study.

Purpose: Sepsis in critically ill patients with injury bears a high morbidity and mortality. Extensive phenotypic monitoring of leucocyte subsets in critically ill patients at ICU admission and during sepsis development is still scarce. The main objective of this study was to identify early changes in leukocyte phenotype which would correlate with later development of sepsis.

Overall Survival Rate in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplanted Patients Requiring Intensive Care Can Be Predicted by the Prognostic Index for Critically Ill Allogeneic Transplantation Patients (PICAT) and the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Scores.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) recipients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) have high mortality rates. In the current study, we retrospectively assessed whether the Prognostic Index for Critically Ill Allogeneic Transplantation patients (PICAT) score predicted overall survival in a cohort of 111 consecutive allo-HCT recipients requiring ICU. Survival rates at 30 days and 1 year after ICU admission were 57.

Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Therapy in Severe COVID-19: Preliminary Results of a Phase I/II Clinical Trial.

Background: Treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) associated with COronaVIrus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) currently relies on dexamethasone and supportive mechanical ventilation, and remains associated with high mortality. Given their ability to limit inflammation, induce immune cells into a regulatory phenotype and stimulate tissue repair, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) represent a promising therapy for severe and critical COVID-19 disease, which is associated with an uncontrolled immune-mediated inflammatory response.

Methods: In this phase I-II trial, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 3 intravenous infusions of bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs at 3-day intervals in patients with severe COVID-19.

Machine learning identification of specific changes in myeloid cell phenotype during bloodstream infections.

The early identification of bacteremia is critical for ensuring appropriate treatment of nosocomial infections in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The aim of this study was to use flow cytometric data of myeloid cells as a biomarker of bloodstream infection (BSI). An eight-color antibody panel was used to identify seven monocyte and two dendritic cell subsets.

Duration of antibiotic treatment using procalcitonin-guided treatment algorithms in older patients: a patient-level meta-analysis from randomized controlled trials.

Background: Older patients have a less pronounced immune response to infection, which may also influence infection biomarkers. There is currently insufficient data regarding clinical effects of procalcitonin (PCT) to guide antibiotic treatment in older patients.

Objective And Design: We performed an individual patient data meta-analysis to investigate the association of age on effects of PCT-guided antibiotic stewardship regarding antibiotic use and outcome.

Continuous infusion, therapeutic drug monitoring and outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy with ceftazidime/avibactam: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Based on recent pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) evidence, continuous-infusion (CI) β-lactam administration is increasingly recommended for serious infections. Since 2016, the combination ceftazidime/avibactam (CAZ/AVI) is administered as per the manufacturer's instructions as an intermittent infusion of 2.5 g every 8 h.

Soluble GPVI is elevated in injured patients: shedding is mediated by fibrin activation of GPVI.

Soluble glycoprotein VI (sGPVI) is shed from the platelet surface and is a marker of platelet activation in thrombotic conditions. We assessed sGPVI levels together with patient and clinical parameters in acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, including patients with thermal injury and inflammatory bowel disease and patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for elective cardiac surgery, trauma, acute brain injury, or prolonged ventilation. Plasma sGPVI was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and was elevated on day 14 after thermal injury, and was higher in patients who developed sepsis.

Sepsis prediction in critically ill patients by platelet activation markers on ICU admission: a prospective pilot study.

Background: Platelets have been involved in both immune surveillance and host defense against severe infection. To date, whether platelet phenotype or other hemostasis components could be associated with predisposition to sepsis in critical illness remains unknown. The aim of this work was to identify platelet markers that could predict sepsis occurrence in critically ill injured patients.

Prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia and ventilator-associated conditions: a randomized controlled trial with subglottic secretion suctioning.

Objectives: Ventilator-associated pneumonia diagnosis remains a debatable topic. New definitions of ventilator-associated conditions involving worsening oxygenation have been recently proposed to make surveillance of events possibly linked to ventilator-associated pneumonia as objective as possible. The objective of the study was to confirm the effect of subglottic secretion suctioning on ventilator-associated pneumonia prevalence and to assess its concomitant impact on ventilator-associated conditions and antibiotic use.

Modelled target attainment after meropenem infusion in patients with severe nosocomial pneumonia: the PROMESSE study.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to propose an optimal treatment regimen of meropenem in critically ill patients with severe nosocomial pneumonia.

Patients And Methods: Among 55 patients in intensive care treated with 1 g of meropenem every 8 h for severe nosocomial pneumonia, 30 were assigned to intermittent infusion (II; over 0.5 h) and 25 to extended infusion (EI; over 3 h) groups.

The Severity of ICU-Acquired Pneumonia.

Much controversy exists about pneumonia in intensive care-especially, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP)-about its diagnosis and its attributable mortality. A better consensus exists about its prevention and its treatment. VAP occurs in already critically ill patients, and the relationship between preexisting organ dysfunction or failures and the severity of VAP has been recently highlighted.

Procalcitonin for antibiotic treatment in intensive care unit patients.

Procalcitonin (PCT), a 116-aminoacids prohormone, has been substantially studied over the last 2 decades in the field of sepsis. Disappointingly low sensitivity values led to the abandonment of the concept of it as a diagnostic tool and then to its being considered more as a prognostic marker with a good correlation with severe infection. Later on, growing concerns about multidrug-resistant bacteria in the ICU environment and about the cost and side effects of antibiotics suggested that PCT might prove to be a valuable asset in stewardship programs.