Perioperative Albumin Among Adults Undergoing Thoracic Surgery in the United States: Utilization, Associations With Clinical Outcomes, and Contribution to Hospital Costs.

Objectives: To estimate the use of albumin among adults undergoing thoracic surgery in the United States, compare baseline characteristics, clinical and cost outcomes of recipients versus nonrecipients, and determine albumin's contribution to total hospital costs.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Nationwide sample of US hospitals.

Gastric Point of Care Ultrasound in Adults: Image Acquisition and Interpretation.

Over the past two decades, diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has emerged as a rapid and non-invasive bedside tool for addressing clinical inquiries related to gastric content. One emerging concern pertains to patients about to undergo sedation and/or endotracheal intubation: the elevated risk of aspiration from the patient's stomach contents. Aspiration of gastric contents into the lungs poses a serious and potentially life-threatening complication.

Voxelotor as a Treatment of Persistent Hypoxia in the ICU.

Hypoxia is encountered frequently in the ICU as a result of a wide range of pathologic characteristics. The oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve describes hemoglobin's affinity for a given Po and factors affecting uptake and offload. Research in manipulating this relationship between hemoglobin and oxygen is sparing.

Fulminant sepsis secondary to severe lung contusion from the Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System device.

Introduction: Portable mechanical chest compression devices have been developed to improve upon many problems of manual compression, increase patient survival, and improve neurologic outcomes. However, the use of these devices is not without risk of harm to the patient.

Case Report: We describe a patient who received chest compressions from a mechanical compression device after cardiac arrest and subsequently developed fulminant sepsis secondary to lung contusions and a necrotizing pulmonary infection.

Pulmonary artery pulsatility index as a predictor of right ventricular failure in left ventricular assist device recipients: A systematic review.

Background: It is critical to identify patients at increased risk of right ventricular failure (RVF) before left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. Pulmonary artery pulsatility index (PAPi) is a hemodynamic parameter that is a specific measure of right ventricular function and may better identify LVAD recipients at risk for RVF. This systematic review analyzes the predictive value of preoperative PAPi to RVF in the setting of LVAD implantation.

Continuous renal replacement therapy and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: implications in the COVID-19 era.

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19)) was identified as the causative agent of viral pneumonias in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and has emerged as a pandemic causing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction. Interim guidance by the World Health Organization states that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) should be considered as a rescue therapy in COVID-19-related ARDS. International registries tracking ECMO in COVID-19 patients reveal a 21%-70% incidence of acute renal injury requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) during ECMO support.

Superior vena cava syndrome during veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for COVID-19.

Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome is typically associated with malignant tumors obstructing the SVC, but as many as 40% of cases have other etiologies. SVC obstruction was previously described during veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy (VV ECMO) in children. In this report, we describe a woman with adult respiratory distress syndrome resulting from infection with coronavirus-19 who developed SVC syndrome during VV ECMO.