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Jean Carlet

Publications and source records attributed to Jean Carlet.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Surviving intensive care: a report from the 2002 Brussels Roundtable.

The traditional goal of intensive care has been to decrease short-term mortality. While worthy, this goal fails to address the issue of what it means to survive intensive care. Key questions include whether intensive care survivors have optimal long-term outcomes and whether ICU care decisions would change if we knew more about these outcomes. The 2002 Brussels Roundtable, "Surviving Intensive care", highlighted these issues, summarizing the available evidence on natural history and risk factors for critical illness and outlining future directions for care and research. Critical illness is associated with a wide array of serious and concerning long-term sequelae that interfere with optimal patient-centered outcomes. Although traditional short-term outcomes, such as hospital mortality, remain extremely important, they are not likely to be adequate surrogates for subsequent patient-centered outcomes. As such, it is important to focus specifically on how critical illness and intensive care affects a patient's and relatives' long-term health and well-being. There are a large number of potential pre-, intra-, and post-ICU factors that may improve or worsen these outcomes, and these factors are subjects for future research. In addition, future clinical trials of ICU therapies should include long-term follow-up of survival, quality of life, morbidity, functional status, and costs of care. Follow-up ought to be for at least six months. The SF-36 and EuroQOL EQ-5D are the best-suited instruments for measuring quality of life in multicenter critical care trials though further methodologic research and instrument design is encouraged. There are also opportunities today to improve care. Key to taking advantage of such opportunities is the need for a global awareness of critical illness as an entity that begins and ends outside the ICU 'box'. Specific interventions that show promise for improving care include ICU discharge screening tools and ICU follow-up clinics.

Belgium↗

Paresis acquired in the intensive care unit: a prospective multicenter study.

CONTEXT: Although electrophysiologic and histologic neuromuscular abnormalities are common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, the clinical incidence of ICU-acquired neuromuscular disorders in patients recovering from severe illness remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of ICU-acquired paresis (ICUAP) during recovery from critical illness in the ICU and to determine the electrophysiologic and histologic patterns in patients with ICUAP. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study conducted from March 1999 to June 2000. SETTING: Three medical and 2 surgical ICUs in 4 hospitals in France. PARTICIPANTS: All consecutive ICU patients without preexisting neuromuscular disease who underwent mechanical ventilation for 7 or more days were screened daily for awakening. The first day a patient was considered awake was day 1. Patients with severe muscle weakness on day 7 were considered to have ICUAP. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence and duration of ICUAP, risk factors for ICUAP, and comparative duration of mechanical ventilation between ICUAP and control patients. RESULTS: Among the 95 patients who achieved satisfactory awakening, the incidence of ICUAP was 25.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 16.9%-35.2%). All ICUAP patients had a sensorimotor axonopathy, and all patients who underwent a muscle biopsy had specific muscle involvement not related to nerve involvement. The median duration of ICUAP after day 1 was 21 days. Mean (SD) duration of mechanical ventilation after day 1 was significantly longer in patients with ICUAP compared with those without (18.2 [36.3] vs 7.6 [19.2] days; P =.03). Independent predictors of ICUAP were female sex (odds ratio [OR], 4.66; 95% CI, 1.19-18.30), the number of days with dysfunction of 2 or more organs (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.11-1.49), duration of mechanical ventilation (OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.00-1.22), and administration of corticosteroids (OR, 14.90; 95% CI, 3.20-69.80) before day 1. CONCLUSIONS: Identified using simple bedside clinical criteria, ICUAP was frequent during recovery from critical illness and was associated with a prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation. Our findings suggest an important role of corticosteroids in the development of ICUAP.

Aged↗

The significance of distal bronchial samples with commensals in ventilator-associated pneumonia: colonizer or pathogen?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of oropharyngeal and cutaneous commensal microorganisms (OCCs) as a cause of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of the medical and microbiological records. SETTING: One medical-surgical ICU. PATIENTS: All VAP episodes recorded during a 10-year period were reviewed. All patients with suspected VAP underwent bronchoscopy with protected-specimen brush (PSB) sampling and BAL before any change in antibiotic therapy was made. OCC-VAP was defined as VAP with significant growth in quantitative cultures (PSB yielded > or = 10(3) cfu/mL and/or BAL yielded > or = 10(4) cfu/mL) of OCCs only. Three experts reviewed the episodes. Exposed patients (ie, those with OCC-VAP) and unexposed patients (ie, patients without VAP) matched on condition severity at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation duration were compared. RESULTS: Twenty-nine episodes in 28 patients with > or = 10(4) cfu/mL OCCs in BAL fluid and/or > or = 10(3) cfu/mL OCCs in PSB specimens were found. All patients in these episodes had new radiologic lung infiltrates, with 26 episodes involving purulent tracheal aspirates, 23 episodes involving temperatures > or = 38.5 degrees C, and 18 episodes involving > or = 11,000 leukocytes/ microL. The main OCCs found were non-beta-hemolytic Streptococcus spp (n = 12), Neisseria spp (n = 7), and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp (n = 6). Other possible reasons for fever and the presence of new chest infiltrates were found in 20 and 17 patients, respectively. Histologic evidence of pneumonia was found in 2 of the 10 patients who died. The three experts agreed on the diagnosis for 23 patients. In the OCC-VAP group only, the mean (+/- SD) logistic organ dysfunction (LOD) scores increased significantly (LOD score, 2 +/- 4; p = 0.008) during the 3 days before bronchoscopy, and ICU stay duration was longer than in the unexposed group. The exposed/unexposed study found no difference in mortality. CONCLUSION: OCCs may behave like classic nosocomial pathogens in critically ill patients.

Adult↗