Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Military Health Personnel During High-Intensity Conflict: The Crucial Issue of Triage.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the biggest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. It has forced countries to prepare for engagement on a massive scale, namely, a high-intensity war between nation states. A potential massive influx of wounded personnel risks saturating logistical supply chains and requires changes to not only medical care but also a paradigm shift.

Outcomes of Patients Treated with Prehospital Noninvasive Ventilation: Observational Retrospective Multicenter Study in the Northern French Alps.

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves the outcome of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (AcPE) and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aeCOPD) but is not recommended in pneumonia. The aim of this study was to assess the appropriateness of the use of NIV in a prehospital setting, where etiological diagnostics rely mainly on clinical examination. This observational multicenter retrospective study included all the patients treated with NIV by three mobile medical emergency teams in 2015.

Performance of the ROX index to predict intubation in immunocompromised patients receiving high-flow nasal cannula for acute respiratory failure.

Background: Delayed intubation is associated with high mortality. There is a lack of objective criteria to decide the time of intubation. We assessed a recently described combined oxygenation index (ROX index) to predict intubation in immunocompromised patients.

Thyroid Storm in the ICU: A Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Objectives: Thyroid storm represents a rare but life-threatening endocrine emergency. Only rare data are available on its management and the outcome of the most severe forms requiring ICU admission. We aimed to describe the clinical manifestations, management and in-ICU and 6-month survival rates of patients with those most severe thyroid storm forms requiring ICU admission.

Center effect in intubation risk in critically ill immunocompromised patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure.

Background: Acute respiratory failure is the leading reason for intensive care unit (ICU) admission in immunocompromised patients, and the need for invasive mechanical ventilation has become a major clinical endpoint in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, data are lacking on whether intubation is an objective criteria that is used unbiasedly across centers. This study explores how this outcome varies across ICUs.

Effect of High-Flow Nasal Oxygen vs Standard Oxygen on 28-Day Mortality in Immunocompromised Patients With Acute Respiratory Failure: The HIGH Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: High-flow nasal oxygen therapy is increasingly used for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF).

Objective: To determine whether high-flow oxygen therapy decreases mortality among immunocompromised patients with AHRF compared with standard oxygen therapy.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The HIGH randomized clinical trial enrolled 776 adult immunocompromised patients with AHRF (Pao2 <60 mm Hg or Spo2 <90% on room air, or tachypnea >30/min or labored breathing or respiratory distress, and need for oxygen ≥6 L/min) at 32 intensive care units (ICUs) in France between May 19, 2016, and December 31, 2017.

High-flow nasal oxygen vs. standard oxygen therapy in immunocompromised patients with acute respiratory failure: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is the leading reason for intensive care unit (ICU) admission in immunocompromised patients. High-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) therapy is an alternative to standard oxygen. By providing warmed and humidified gas, HFNO allows the delivery of higher flow rates via nasal cannula devices, with FiO values of nearly 100%.

Coronary Spasm after an Injection of Vincristine.

Cardiotoxicity, including heart failure, thromboembolic events, and myocardial ischemia, is a concern for cardiologists and oncologists. The most frequently involved drugs are anthracyclines. We report an episode of coronary spasm due to vincristine, a vinca alkaloid, in a 49-year-old man treated for a diffuse undifferentiated carcinoma.

Differential Perceptions of Noninvasive Ventilation in Intensive Care among Medical Caregivers, Patients, and Their Relatives: A Multicenter Prospective Study-The PARVENIR Study.

Background: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) requires a close "partnership" between a conscious patient and the patient's caregivers. Specific perceptions of NIV stakeholders and their impact have been poorly described to date. The objectives of this study were to compare the perceptions of NIV by intensive care unit (ICU) physicians, nurses, patients, and their relatives and to explore factors associated with caregivers' willingness to administer NIV and patients' and relatives' anxiety in relation to NIV.

Treatment intensity, age and outcome in medical ICU patients: results of a French administrative database.

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are aging, and older age has been associated with higher mortality in ICU. As previous studies have reported that older age was also associated with less intensive treatment, we investigated the relationship between age, treatment intensity and mortality in medical ICU patients.

Methods: Data were extracted from the administrative database of 18 medical ICUs.

[Wounded in action: the platinum ten minutes and the golden hour].

In the battlefield, the majority of casualties die within ten minutes of the trauma. Most injuries result from an explosion and haemorrhage plays a central role. To improve survival rates, the French Army Health Service has developed a chain of survival from the battlefield to France based on prehospital combat casualty care, forward medical support during the first hour and damage control surgery.

The prognostic value of ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 repeats, member 13) deficiency in septic shock patients involves interleukin-6 and is not dependent on disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Introduction: ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 repeats, member 13) deficiency has been reported in patients with sepsis but its clinical relevance and pathophysiology remain unclear. Our objectives were to assess the clinical significance, prognostic value and pathophysiology of ADAMTS13 deficiency in patients with septic shock with and without disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

Methods: This was a prospective monocenter cohort study of patients with septic shock.

Causes and risk factors of death in patients with thrombotic microangiopathies.

Purpose: Although plasma therapy of thrombotic micro-angiopathies (TMAs) has dramatically improved survival, the outcome remains fatal in up to 15 % of patients. We investigated the causes and risk factors of death in patients with TMA.

Methods: Retrospective matched case-control national-registry study of 57 patients who died within 180 days of TMA diagnosis and 48 survivors matched on age, gender, and baseline platelet count and creatinine level.

[Meeting the needs of families of patients in intensive care units].

As patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are not always able to decide for themselves, their family must receive thorough information on the diagnosis, prognosis and available treatments (unless the patient has expressed his/her opposition). It is crucial to provide this information before requesting the family's involvement. Together, the family and ICU physicians can ensure that the patient receives the most appropriate care.

Imported acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related histoplasmosis in metropolitan France: a comparison of pre-highly active anti-retroviral therapy and highly active anti-retroviral therapy eras.

Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum infection is rare outside disease-endemic areas. Clinical presentation and outcome of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related histoplasmosis are unknown in non-endemic areas with wide access to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

Survival in neutropenic patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.

Objective: To determine whether the survival gains achieved in critically ill cancer patients in recent years exist in the subset with neutropenia and severe sepsis or septic shock.

Design: Retrospective 11-yr study (1998-2008).

Setting: Medical intensive care unit in a teaching hospital.

Important questions asked by family members of intensive care unit patients.

Objectives: Relatives often lack important information about intensive care unit patients. High-quality information is crucial to help relatives overcome the often considerable situational stress and to acquire the ability to participate in the decision-making process, most notably regarding the appropriate level of care. We aimed to develop a list of questions important for relatives of patients in the intensive care unit.

Surrogate decision makers for incompetent ICU patients: a European perspective.

Purpose Of Review: Frequently, ICU patients lack the capacity to share discussions and make decisions about their health. Designation of a surrogate and advance directives have been proposed to empower patients and give more place to their autonomy. Even though legitimacy of surrogates is now recognized by physicians, patients' management must take into account new legislations emphasizing patients' autonomy all over Europe.

Continued survival gains in recent years among critically ill myeloma patients.

Objective: Therapeutic advances have improved survival in patients with myeloma (MM) over the past decade. We investigated whether survival has also improved in critically ill myeloma patients.

Design: Retrospective study.