Outcomes and clinical practice in patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit in Montréal, Canada: a descriptive analysis.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is responsible for millions of infections worldwide, and a substantial number of these patients will be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Our objective was to describe the characteristics, outcomes and management of critically ill patients with COVID-19 pneumonia at a single designated pandemic centre in Montréal, Canada.

Methods: A descriptive analysis was performed on consecutive critically ill patients with COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to the ICU at the Jewish General Hospital, a designated pandemic centre in Montréal, between Mar.

Sengstaken-Blakemore tube for non-variceal distal esophageal bleeding refractory to endoscopic treatment: a case report & review of the literature.

Non-variceal upper-gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGIB) refractory to therapeutic endoscopy is a challenging situation. The following details a novel use for the Sengstaken-Blakemore tube in a case of severe ulcerative esophagitis after failure of conventional medical and endoscopic treatment. A 77-year-old man with a history of peptic ulcer disease developed massive hematemesis during a hospital admission.

Survival from in-hospital cardiac arrest on the Internal Medicine clinical teaching unit.

Background: There is a paucity of data on patient outcomes following in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) on the Internal Medicine clinical teaching unit (CTU). Accurate outcome data enhances discussions between patients, surrogates, and physicians, and assists in their management.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of consecutive "Code Blue" calls on 2 medical CTUs in a Canadian tertiary centre from January 1, 2003 to June 30, 2007.

Is weaning failure caused by low-frequency fatigue of the diaphragm?

Because patients who fail a trial of weaning from mechanical ventilation experience a marked increase in respiratory load, we hypothesized that these patients develop diaphragmatic fatigue. Accordingly, we measured twitch transdiaphragmatic pressure using phrenic nerve stimulation in 11 weaning failure and 8 weaning success patients. Measurements were made before and 30 minutes after spontaneous breathing trials that lasted up to 60 minutes.