What do we know about eligible organ donors? Analysis of data from a local Registry.

Background: The imbalance between supply and demand for organ donations remains a hot topic for international debate. Brain-dead organ donors (DBDs) constitute the majority of organ donations in Poland.

Objectives: To identify the factors that guided intensivists in qualifying a brain-dead patient as a potential organ donor, and whether the factors that significantly influenced the decision to qualify constituted an actual contraindication.

Readmissions to General ICUs in a Geographic Area of Poland Are Seemingly Associated with Better Outcomes.

Background: Various factors can contribute to high mortality rates in intensive care units (ICUs). Here, we intended to define a population of patients readmitted to general ICUs in Poland and to identify independent predictors of ICU readmission.

Methods: Data derived from adult ICU admissions from the Silesian region of Poland were analyzed.

[Readmission to the intensive care unit - epidemiology, prediction and clinical consequences].

Readmission to the ICU is considered a serious adverse event. The medical and economic impact of this complication is so significant, that a percentage of ICU readmissions is today considered an indicator of ICU quality. This review paper analyzes the available literature on epidemiology, prediction and the clinical effects of ICU readmissions.

Outcome Prediction After Coronary Surgery and Redo Surgery for Bleeding (From the KROK Registry).

Objectives: To assess the reliability of EuroSCORE II in an entire population after isolated coronary artery surgery and separately among patients who underwent redo surgery due to bleeding, and to create a model predicting hospital death among patients who underwent redo surgery owing to bleeding.

Design: Retrospective study based on data from the Polish National Registry of Cardiac Surgical Procedures.

Setting: Multi-institutional study.

Apnea testing using the oxygen insufflation method for diagnosis of brain death may compromise pulmonary function.

Introduction: The aim of our study was to compare the reliability and safety of the classical I-AT with the continuous positive airway pressure apnea test (CPAP-AT).

Material And Methods: In the group of 48 patients (group O), an I-AT was performed at the end of BD diagnostic procedures, and approximately 1-1.5h later CPAP-AT with 100% FiO and CPAP of 10cm HO, provided by ventilator in CPAP mode.