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F De Pádua

Publications and source records attributed to F De Pádua.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

[Rational distribution of resources in intensive medicine. Analysis of admission and discharge criteria at intensive care units].

Cost-containment in health care has become a major issue in today's practice of medicine. With its needs in advanced technologies and skilled personnel, intensive care is among the most expensive of all hospital activities. This fact makes the analysis of indications for intensive care unit admission, as well as early discharge, of paramount importance: patients who are not likely to benefit from intensive care are at the extremes of disease severity, since low-risk patients are not ill enough to need ICU admission and high-risk patients have a very high mortality, irrespective of intensive care treatment. In this paper we discuss, based on published evidence, the formulation of recommendations for admission and early discharge from ICUs, and also present the Society of Critical Care Medicine guidelines, on this subject.

Critical Care↗

[Risk stratification and prognosis in critical surgical patients using the Acute Physiology, Age and Chronic Health III System (APACHE III)].

INTRODUCTION: Outcome prediction in critical surgical patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) has been established using several scoring systems. To evaluate the predictive performance of the Acute Physiology, Age and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE III) scoring system in these patients, we studied a population admitted to a surgical ICU in our University Hospital. METHODS: We collected prospective data on 220 consecutive patients admitted over a period of 12 months. APACHE III (A3) scores were obtained over the first 24 hours of ICU admission (APACHE II scores were also calculated); data also included age, sex, acute and chronic diseases, ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), patient location prior to ICU admission and outcome. The relationship of hospital mortality with A3 scores was analyzed using logistic regression, with the discriminatory power of these systems being assessed by the area under the ROC curve and percentage of correct classification. RESULTS: Patient's mean age was 57 +/- 17 years and 44% were male; 53.6% were elective and 46.4% were emergency postoperative patients; 5% of patients had co-morbidities; ICU mortality rate was 10% and in-hospital mortality rate (HMR) was 15%; mean ICU LOS was 3.9 +/- 5.6 days and mean hospital LOS was 9.4 +/- 8.2 days; mean scores were: APACHE III = 33 +/- 2 and APACHE II = 9 +/- 6 points. There was a significant relationship between ascending A3 scores and HMR. APACHE III had a correct classification rate of 87.3% and an area under the ROC curve of 0.830. CONCLUSIONS: In a population of critical surgical patients admitted to our ICU the APACHE III scoring system demonstrated an excellent prognostic performance as measured by contingency tables and areas under the ROC curve; this system can be a useful tool for outcome prediction in critical surgical patients.

APACHE↗

[Significance exercise-induced ST elevation in patients with myocardial infarction].

In 52 patients with previous myocardial infraction, 49 men and 3 women (mean age 56 +/- 7.1 years) the significance of ST-segment elevation during the stress-test, was evaluated. Of the 52 patients 15 (29%) showed St-segment elevation and 37(71%), showed no alteration of the ST-segment. Extension of coronary disease, degree of obstruction, wall motion abnormalities and the presence of residual ischemia were evaluated by coronary angiography, technetium-99M pyrophosphate imaging and exercise TL-201 scintigraphy. From the results of the study one may conclude that, in patients with previous myocardial infraction exercise, ST-segment elevation is a consequence of sub-occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery with severe ventricular dysfunction either in patients with one or multiple vessel disease.

Coronary Angiography↗

[Prognostic systems in intensive care: general principles, development, and clinical applications].

In this review article, we present the need for prognostic scoring in clinical medicine, specially in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM). The general principles of prognostication in ICM are discussed, and three general scoring systems are presented: ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY AND CHRONIC HEALTH EVALUATION (APACHE) in its 3 versions, SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE (SAPS) and MORTALITY PREDICTION MODEL (MPM). The use of these prognostic systems is then evaluated not only as a support for medical decision-making, and resource allocation, but also as a tool for clinical studies in terms of patient randomization. Finally, the future developments and clinical application of these risk stratification systems are presented and discussed.

Critical Care↗