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A case of severe sepsis caused by Clostridium difficile infection in a 66-year-old cirrhotic female is described. Severe systemic symptoms evolved rapidly to septic shock and ARDS, with signs and symptoms suggesting an acute abdomen requiring exploration for exclusion of surgical treatable diseases. The delayed diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection probably contributed to the severity of the clinical course.

A case of severe airway obstruction secondary to retropharyngeal hematoma in a young multiple trauma patient with a stable occipitoatloid capsular-ligamentous injury is reported. The onset of mechanical obstruction occurred eight hours after the trauma requiring emergent oral intubation, and lasted seventeen days. The initial lateral cervical spine radiograph was negative, whereas the second one performed 7 hours after and initially underestimated, showed a large prevertebral soft tissue swelling. The initial difficult radiological diagnosis of trauma is described, and the therapeutic implications are discussed.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of two cardiac output measurement methods based on a modified Fick equation, that calculate the O2 consumption (VO2) dividing the CO2 production (VCO2) by a fixed respiratory quotient (RQ)., Design: Comparative study., Setting: One 5 beds general intensive care unit in a 500 beds general hospital., Patients: Ten mechanically ventilated critically ill patients requiring the right heart catheterization. The mean age was 65.5 years and the mean APACHE II score at admission was 24., Measurements: The cardiac output was measured using two modified Fick methods. The VO2 was calculated dividing VCO2 by 0.9, while the arteriovenous O2 content difference was calculated using the mixed venous O2 content in the first method (COF), and the central venous O2 content in the second one (COFra). Moreover the cardiac output was measured with the thermodilution technique (COTD) as gold standard., Results: The mean difference between the COTD and COF determinations was 0.571 L +/- 1.81 L, with limits of agreement ranging from -3.057 to +4.200 L. The mean difference between the COTD and COFra determinations was -0.322 L +/- 2.05 L, with limits of agreement ranging from -4.430 to +3.785 L. Both differences were nonsignificant. The correlation coefficients with COTD were: COF determinations 0.72, COFra determinations 0.70. In the group of COFra determinations less than 7 L the mean difference between COTD and COFra was 0.495 L with limits of agreement ranging from +2.208 L to -1.218 L., Conclusions: The correlation coefficients of the two modified Fick methods with COTD are good, and the mean differences between their results and the gold standard are small, but the low precision of both tested methods demonstrated by the very large limits of agreement, severely reduce the clinical reliability of the measurements. Only for the less than 7 L cardiac outputs the COFra limits of agreement with COTD are narrow enough, and in this range the technique can be useful e.g. revealing a low cardiac output.

We report a case of nasocardiac reflex which occurred during a septorhinoplasty. Management and preventive treatment is briefly discussed.

The reliability of abdominal ultrasonography (US) in a clinical algorithm for emergency management of blunt trauma was evaluated prospectively. From November 1, 1987 to December 31, 1988, of 111 severe trauma victims admitted to our ICU, 63 were screened according to protocol by US for peritoneal fluid and splenic and/or hepatic injuries. The mean age was 49.6 years. The mean ISS and APACHE II Score was 26.9 and 13.7 respectively. The sensitivity of US for detection of peritoneal fluid was 95%, specificity 97.6%, positive predictive value 95%, negative predictive value 97.6% with a prevalence of 31.7%. For hepatic and splenic injuries instead the results were not as good as for abdominal fluid. Twelve patients underwent laparotomy and 6 with abdominal injuries were successfully treated nonoperatively with serial US examinations. Overall mortality was 12 (19%). No patients died for delayed or missed diagnosis of abdominal injury.