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Introduction: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. A certain degree of immunodepression has been reported during critical illness, and lymphopenia identified as an independent predictor of poor outcome; no data are available for critically ill SAH patients. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of lymphopenia among SAH patients and its association with hospital-acquired infection. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of adult patients admitted to an intensive care unit with nontraumatic SAH between January 2011 and May 2016. Lymphocyte count was obtained daily for the first 5 days; lymphopenia was defined as lymphocyte count

Objectives Standard nursing interventions, especially bed-baths, in ICUs can lead to complications or adverse events defined as a physiologic change that can be life-threatening or that prolongs hospitalization. However, the frequency and type of these adverse events are rarely reported in the literature. The primary objective of our study was to describe the proportion of patients experiencing at least one serious adverse event during bed-bath. The secondary objectives were to determine the incidence of each type of serious adverse event and identify risk factors for these serious adverse events. Design Prospective multicenter observational study. Setting Twenty-four ICUs in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Patients The patients included in this study had been admitted to an ICU for less than 72 hours and required at least one of the following treatments: invasive ventilation, vasopressors, noninvasive ventilation, high-flow oxygen therapy. Serious adverse events were defined as cardiac arrest, accidental extubation, desaturation and/or mucus plugging/inhalation, hypotension and/or arrhythmia and/or agitation requiring therapeutic intervention, acute pain, accidental disconnection or dysfunction of equipment, and patient fall requiring additional assistance. Interventions None. Measurements and main results The study included 253 patients from May 1, 2018, to July 31, 2018 in 24 ICUs, representing 1,529 nursing procedures. The mean Simplified Acute Physiology Score II was 54 ± 19. Nursing care was administered by an average of 2 ± 1 caregivers and lasted between 11 and 20 minutes. Of the 253 patients included, 142 (56%) experienced at least one serious adverse event. Of the 1,529 nursing procedures, 295 (19%) were complicated by at least one serious adverse event. In multivariate analysis, the factors associated with serious adverse event were as follows: presence of a specific protocol (p = 0.011); tracheostomy (p = 0.032); administration of opioids (p = 0.007); presence of a physician (p = 0.0004); duration of nursing care between 6 and 10 minutes (p = 0.003), duration of nursing care between 11 and 20 minutes (p = 0.005), duration of nursing care greater than 40 minutes (p = 0.04) with a reference duration of nursing care between 20 and 40 minutes. Conclusions Serious adverse events were observed in one-half of patients and concerned one-fifth of nurses, confirming the need for caution. Further studies are needed to test systematic serious adverse event prevention strategies.

To describe the characteristics, management, and outcome of patients admitted to ICUs for pheochromocytoma crisis.A 16-year multicenter retrospective study.Fifteen university and nonuniversity ICUs in France.Patients admitted in ICU for pheochromocytoma crisis.None.We included 34 patients with a median age of 46 years (40-54 yr); 65% were males. At admission, the median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score was 8 (4-12) and median Simplified Acute Physiology Score II 49.5 (27-70). The left ventricular ejection fraction was consistently decreased with a median value of 30% (15-40%). Mechanical ventilation was required in 23 patients, mainly because of congestive heart failure. Vasoactive drugs were used in 23 patients (68%) and renal replacement therapy in eight patients (24%). Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was used as a rescue therapy in 14 patients (41%). Pheochromocytoma was diagnosed by CT in 33 of 34 patients. When assayed, urinary metanephrine and catecholamine levels were consistently elevated. Five patients underwent urgent surgery, including two during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Overall ICU mortality was 24% (8/34), and overall 90-day mortality was 27% (9/34). Crude 90-day mortality was not significantly different between patients managed with versus without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (22% vs 30%) (p = 0.7) despite higher severity scores at admission in the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation group.Mortality is high in pheochromocytoma crisis. Routinely considering this diagnosis and performing abdominal CT in patients with unexplained cardiogenic shock may allow an earlier diagnosis. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and adrenalectomy should be considered as a therapeutic in most severe cases.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the contribution of endotoxemia to the severity of postcardiac arrest shock. DESIGN A prospective monocentric study. SETTING A tertiary hospital in Paris, France. PATIENTS Patients admitted in our ICU after a successfully resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Endotoxin measurement was performed in the 12 hours following return of spontaneous circulation using the endotoxin activity assay. Endotoxin level was classified as low (< 0.4 endotoxin activity), intermediate (0.4 to < 0.6 endotoxin activity), or high (≥ 0.6 endotoxin activity) according to manufacture guidelines. Severity of shock was assessed by the vasopressor-free days and by the mean daily dose of vasopressor to insure a mean arterial pressure of 65-75 mm Hg. Among 92 patients included in the study, 60 presented a postcardiac arrest shock. Endotoxemia level was higher in patients with postcardiac arrest shock. Among these patients, by multivariate linear regression, high endotoxin class (adjusted estimate -2.0; 95% CI, -3.90 to -0.11), public place of cardiac arrest (adjusted estimate, 1.47; 95% CI, 0.007 to 2.93), and time to return of spontaneous circulation (adjusted estimate -0.08; 95% CI, -0.13 to -0.03) were independently associated with the number of vasopressor-free days. Furthermore, high endotoxin class (adjusted estimate, 97.95; 95% CI, 20.5 to 175.4) and a nonshockable rhythm (adjusted estimate, 59.9; 95% CI, 6.2 to 113.7) were the sole factors independently associated with the mean daily dose of vasopressors. CONCLUSIONS In patients successfully resuscitated from cardiac arrest with a postcardiac arrest shock, high level of endotoxemia is independently associated with duration of postcardiac arrest shock and the amount of vasopressive drugs. Whether treatment targeting endotoxemia could be beneficial in the management of postcardiac arrest shock needs to be studied in further randomized controlled studies.

OBJECTIVE Determinants of outcome and long-term survival are unknown in elderly patients successfully resuscitated after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Our aim was to identify factors associated with short- and long-term neurologic outcome in such patients. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Tertiary hospital in Paris, France. PATIENTS Patients aged over 75 admitted in our ICU after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between 2000 and 2009. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Two hundred twenty-five patients were included in the study. Fifty-seven patients (25.3%) had a good neurologic outcome at ICU discharge (Cerebral Performance Category 1-2). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, factors associated with good short-term outcome were time from collapse to cardiopulmonary resuscitation less than or equal to 3 minutes (odds ratio = 4.06; 95% CI, 1.49-11.09, p = 0.006) and blood lactate level less than or equal to 5.1 mmol/L (odds ratio = 3.30; 95% CI, 1.05-10.39, p = 0.04), but age less than or equal to 79.5 years and use of induced hypothermia were not. Long-term survivors were assessed for cognitive and functional status (using Cerebral Performance Category and Overall Performance Category scales), and their survival was compared with a large community-based cohort of participants over 75 years. The 1-year survival of ICU survivors (mean follow-up, 28.4 mo) was 69.3% (95% CI, 55.8-79.5) as compared with 95.3% (95% CI, 93.3-97.3) in the control community-based cohort (p< 0.001), resulting in a standardized mortality ratio of 3.49 (95% CI, 2.42-4.85). By multivariate Cox proportional hazard model, factors associated with long-term survival were initial shockable rhythm (hazard ratio = 1.41; 95% CI, 1.01-1.96; p = 0.04), epinephrine cumulate dose less than or equal to 3 mg (hazard ratio = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.06-2.08; p = 0.02), and blood lactate level less than or equal to 5.1 mmol/L (hazard ratio = 2.11; 95% CI, 1.5-2.96; p < 0.001). When available at end of follow-up, 91% and 74% of the patients were classified Cerebral Performance Category 1 and Overall Performance Category 1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Neurologic outcome in successfully resuscitated elderly patients depends on cardiac arrest characteristics rather than age. Short-term survival is 25% with acceptable long-term outcome among survivors.

Septic shock is a frequent and severe complication in the course of malignancies. In a large multicenter cohort of septic shock patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, we assessed the temporal trend in survival and the prognostic factors, with particular emphasis on case volume.A 12-yr multicenter retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data.Cancer patients with septic shock were selected over a 12-yr period (1997-2008) from a French regional database (CUB-Réa). The following variables were extracted: demographic characteristics, type of malignancy, characteristics of infection, severity-of-illness score (Simplified Acute Physiology Score II), organ failure supports, and vital status. For each unit, a running mean annual volume of admissions was calculated for the purpose of categorization into volume tertiles. Prognostic factors were analyzed by a conditional multivariate logistic model after matching on a propensity score of being admitted to a high-volume unit and on the year of admission.None.A total of 3,437 patients were included in the study. The intensive care unit mortality rate dramatically dropped over time (from 70.4% in 1997 to 52.5% in 2008, relative decrease 25.4%, p.001). Participating units were distributed into low-volume (five patients per year), medium-volume (five to 12 patients per year), and high-volume (≥ 13 patients per year) tertiles. A medical cause for intensive care unit admission, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, invasive mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, fungal infections, and unknown microorganism were identified as poor prognostic factors. Case volume demonstrated a strong influence on survival, admission in a high-volume unit being associated with a marked decrease in mortality as compared to low-volume units (adjusted odds ratio 0.63; 95% confidence interval [0.46-0.87], p = .002).Survival of septic shock patients with malignancies markedly increased over the recent years. Furthermore, we identified case volume as a major prognostic factor in this setting.

Background— Although the level of evidence of improvement is significant in cardiac arrest patients resuscitated from a shockable rhythm (ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia [VF/V t ]), the use of therapeutic mild hypothermia (TMH) is more controversial in nonshockable patients (pulseless electric activity or asystole [PEA/asystole]). We therefore assessed the prognostic value of hypothermia for neurological outcome at hospital discharge according to first-recorded cardiac rhythm in a large cohort. Methods and Results— Between January 2000 and December 2009, data from 1145 consecutive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients in whom a successful resuscitation had been achieved were prospectively collected. The association of TMH with a good neurological outcome at hospital discharge (cerebral performance categories level 1 or 2) was quantified by logistic regression analysis. TMH was induced in 457/708 patients (65%) in VF/V t and in 261/437 patients (60%) in PEA/asystole. Overall, 342/1145 patients (30%) reached a favorable outcome (cerebral performance categories level 1 or 2) at hospital discharge, respectively 274/708 (39%) in VF/V t and 68/437 (16%) in PEA/asystole ( P t patients, TMH was associated with increased odds of good neurological outcome (adjusted odds ratio, 1.90; 95% confidence interval, 1.18 to 3.06) whereas in PEA/asystole patients, TMH was not significantly associated with good neurological outcome (adjusted odds ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.37 to 1.36). Conclusions— In this large cohort of cardiac arrest patients, hypothermia was independently associated with an improved outcome at hospital discharge in patients presenting with VF/V t . By contrast, TMH was not associated with good outcome in nonshockable patients. Further investigations are needed to clarify this lack of efficiency in PEA/asystole.

Current classification of medical diagnosis derives from observational correlation between clinical syndromes and pathologic analysis. Limited understanding of the molecular determinants of diseases encountered in the critically ill remains a major obstacle to the rationale selection of therapeutic targets. Indeed, many human diseases reflect a disorder in physiologic processes that are known to involve the interaction of many complex control loops and to respond to a variety of pharmacologic agents and environmental factors. The advent of whole-genome sequencing and other high-throughput technologies have changed biomedical research into a data-rich discipline. "Omics" data sets that describe virtually all biomolecules in the cell are now publicly available. One of the challenges faced by investigators now lies in the interpretation of vast amounts of biological data sets to derive fundamental and applied biological information about whole systems. As mechanistic understanding of disease requires more than an agglomeration of information on the expression and activities of disease-associated molecules, network analysis has been applied to biological problems. Network analysis of the biological integratome promises to identify factors that influence disease phenotype, providing unique insight into disease mechanism. Network analysis also provides a mechanistic basis for defining phenotypic differences through consideration of unique genetic and environmental factors that govern intermediate phenotypes contributing to disease expression. Lastly, network analysis offers a unique method for identifying therapeutic targets that can alter disease expression.