Publications by authors named "Simon A. Amacher"
Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Prompt recognition and antiviral treatment are critical to improve patient outcomes. This systematic review of the literature aimed to aggregate the symptoms described with HSV infections of the CNS which may provide a framework to aid in early diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Each year, approximately 84 out of 100 000 individuals in Europe sustain a cardiac arrest; many die or suffer long-term neurological injury. Early prognostication can be of assistance for treatment planning and for the holding of evidence-based discussions with these patients' families to make decisions about treatment.
Methods: This narrative review is based on pertinent guidelines and on publications retrieved by a selective search in Medline/PubMed.
Background: Workplace violence (WPV) presents challenges in intensive care units (ICUs) calling for reliable prediction of violence. This narrative review aimed to identify and evaluate risk assessment tools from acute care settings which are or might be used to predict violent behavior in adult ICU patients focusing on their performance and clinical utility.
Methods: A screening of PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar was conducted to identify risk scores used in the acute care setting such as emergency departments, hospitals and ICUs.
: The present study introduces our targeted approach for concomitant surgical ablation (CSA) using non-invasive phase mapping (NIPM) and describes its effectiveness regarding freedom from atrial fibrillation (AF). : This retrospective study included cardiac surgical patients undergoing preoperative NIPM for CSA guidance. The primary outcome was freedom from AF six months after surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Conflicting data exist regarding sex-specific outcomes after cardiac arrest. This study investigates sex disparities in the provision of critical care and outcomes of in-hospital (IHCA) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients.
Methods: Analysis of adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to certified Swiss intensive care units (ICUs) (01/2008-12/2022) using the nationwide prospective ICU registry.
Objective: Large language models (LLMs) have recently gained attention for clinical decision-making and diagnosis. This study evaluates the performance of the recently updated LLM Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer-4omni (ChatGPT-4o) in predicting clinical outcomes in patients with status epilepticus and compares its prognostic performance to the Status Epilepticus Severity Score (STESS).
Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort study was performed at the University Hospital Basel (tertiary academic medical center) from January 2005 to December 2022.
Purpose: Examining the impact of scoring aids on the accuracy of assessing the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) in a standardized trauma scenario (primary outcome). Evaluating physicians' understanding of the GCS assessment and clinical application (secondary outcome).
Materials And Methods: This randomized trial was performed at the simulator center of a Swiss tertiary academic medical hospital.
Purpose: To investigate the frequency, content, and clinical translation of advance directives in intensive care units (ICUs).
Material And Methods: Retrospective cohort study in a Swiss tertiary ICU, including patients with advance directives treated in ICUs ≥48 h. The primary endpoint was the violation of directives.
Physical restraints are widely used and accepted as protective measures during treatment in intensive care unit (ICU). This review of the literature summarizes the adverse events and outcomes associated with physical restraint use, and the risk factors associated with their use during treatment in the ICU. The PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases were screened using predefined search terms to identify studies pertaining to adverse events and/or outcomes associated with physical restraint use, and the factors associated with their use in adult patients admitted to the ICU.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates sex-specific differences in organ dysfunction among ICU patients with sepsis or septic shock using the SOFA score.
- An analysis of 5,947 patients showed that women had a lower mean total SOFA score on admission compared to men, influenced particularly by coagulation, liver, and renal components.
- Although significant differences were observed, there were no notable variations in ICU length of stay or mortality rates between sexes, suggesting the need for reevaluation of SOFA scoring criteria based on sex.
Article Synopsis
- Patients discharged from intensive care after cardiac arrest are at risk for post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which includes physical, psychological, and neurological impairments.
- The study found that, out of 107 cardiac arrest survivors followed for 2 years, 43% exhibited symptoms of PICS, significantly affecting their physical and psychological health.
- Key risk factors for developing PICS included being female, longer duration of cardiac arrest without blood flow, job loss after discharge, and the need for ongoing psychological treatment.
Aims: To investigate the prognostic accuracy of a non-medical generative artificial intelligence model (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 4 - ChatGPT-4) as a novel aspect in predicting death and poor neurological outcome at hospital discharge based on real-life data from cardiac arrest patients.
Methods: This prospective cohort study investigates the prognostic performance of ChatGPT-4 to predict outcomes at hospital discharge of adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to intensive care at a large Swiss tertiary academic medical center (COMMUNICATE/PROPHETIC cohort study). We prompted ChatGPT-4 with sixteen prognostic parameters derived from established post-cardiac arrest scores for each patient.
Background: To assess the frequency, risk factors, consequences, and prevention of violence against healthcare workers in intensive care units.
Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Web of Science were searched for studies on violence against healthcare workers in adult intensive care units. Risk factors, patient characteristics, and implications for healthcare workers were collected.
Aims: To assess the DNR preferences of critical care-, anesthesia- and emergency medicine practitioners, to identify factors influencing decision-making, and to raise awareness for misconceptions concerning CPR outcomes.
Methods: A nationwide multicenter survey was conducted in Switzerland confronting healthcare professionals with a case vignette of an adult patient with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The primary outcome was the rate of DNR Code Status vs.
Objectives: This review examined studies regarding the implementation and translation of patients' advance directives (AD) in intensive care units (ICUs), focusing on practical difficulties and obstacles.
Methods: The digital PubMed and Medline databases were screened using predefined keywords to identify relevant prospective and retrospective studies published until 2022.
Results: Seventeen studies from the United States, Europe, and South Africa (including 149,413 patients and 1210 healthcare professionals) were identified.
The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a routinely available blood marker that measures the variation of the size/volume of red blood cells. The aim of our study was to investigate the prognostic value of RDW in cardiac arrest patients and to assess whether RDW improves the prognostic value of three cardiac arrest-specific risk scores. Consecutive adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to the ICU of a Swiss university hospital were included.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Communicating bad news such as a new cancer diagnosis to patients may have a major impact on their well-being. We investigated differences in patients' psychological distress due to the disclosure of bad news by telephone compared to in person in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods: We included all studies that investigated anxiety, depressive or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in adult patients in whom bad news by telephone compared to in person were disclosed.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to understand do-not-resuscitate (DNR) preferences within the Swiss population and identify factors affecting these decisions.
- The research involved a national web-based survey of adults, with results showing that 40.5% preferred a DNR order in a hypothetical scenario, while only 20.3% would choose it for themselves.
- Key factors influencing DNR preferences included individuals' personal choices, views on the effectiveness of intubation, the timeframe for resuscitation attempts, and participants' exaggerated beliefs about survival chances following cardiac arrest.
Background: The PROLOGUE score (PROgnostication using LOGistic regression model for Unselected adult cardiac arrest patients in the Early stages) is a novel prognostic model for the prediction of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest, which showed exceptional performance in the internal validation. The aim of this study is to validate the PROLOGUE score in an independent cohort of unselected adult cardiac arrest patients and to compare it to the thoroughly validated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) and Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis (CAHP) scores.
Methods: This study included consecutive adult cardiac arrest patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a Swiss tertiary teaching hospital between October 2012 and July 2022.
This work aims to assess the performance of two post-arrest (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, OHCA, and cardiac arrest hospital prognosis, CAHP) and one pre-arrest (good outcome following attempted resuscitation, GO-FAR) prediction model for the prognostication of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest in a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic search was conducted in Embase, Medline, and Web of Science Core Collection from November 2006 to December 2021, and by forward citation tracking of key score publications. The search identified 1'021 records, of which 25 studies with a total of 124'168 patients were included in the review.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Intensive care unit patients are at risk for post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which includes psychological, physical and/or cognitive sequelae after their hospital stay. Our aim was to investigate PICS in adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).
Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, we assessed risks for PICS at 3 and 12-month follow-up within the following domains: a) physical impairment (EuroQol [EQ-5D-3L]), b) cognitive functioning (Cerebral Performance Category [CPC] score >1, modified Rankin Scale [mRS] >2) and c) psychological burden (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS], Impact of Event Scale-Revised [IES-R]).
Background: Patients may prefer different levels of involvement in decision-making regarding their medical care which may influence their medical knowledge.
Objective: We investigated associations of patients' decisional control preference (DCP) with their medical knowledge, ward round performance measures (e.g.
Background: Several scoring systems have been used to predict short-term outcome in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), including the disease-specific OHCA and CAHP (Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis) scores, as well as the general severity-of-illness scores Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) and Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II). This study aimed to assess the prognostic performance of these four scores to predict long-term outcomes (≥ 2 years) in adult cardiac arrest patients.
Methods: This is a prospective single-centre cohort study including consecutive cardiac arrest patients admitted to intensive care in a Swiss tertiary academic medical centre.
Importance: Data on long-term survival beyond 12 months after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) of a presumed cardiac cause are scarce.
Objective: To investigate the long-term survival of adult patients after surviving the initial hospital stay for an OHCA.
Data Sources: A systematic search of the EMBASE and MEDLINE databases was performed from database inception to March 25, 2021.