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A 61-year-old male patient diagnosed with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was managed with tracheostomy and intermittent prone positioning in the intensive care unit. After a sudden deterioration, examination of tracheostomy tube (TT) and X-ray of the chest revealed that he had aspirated the fractured TT. The fractured tube was removed through the tracheostomy stoma using a rigid ventilating bronchoscope and forceps. Prone positioning is a beneficial postural therapy capable of improving patient oxygenation. However, it has some complications, like unplanned extubation and facial tissue injury. Percutaneous tracheostomy is also a valuable and safe procedure and has been increasingly performed in critical care patients, including those who suffer from COVID-19 ARDS. Fractures and aspiration of a tracheostomy tube can occur anytime after tracheostomy. We think prone positioning may contribute to the rupture and aspiration of the tracheostomy tube in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) is common, especially in the most intensive care patients (ICP). Several literature series suggest that patients who develop HAA have increased mortality and morbidity compared with those who do not. The cause of HAA is likely multifactorial; iatrogenic blood loss,impaired erythropoiesis, bleeding episodes all can lead to HAA in ICP. Little research has focused on HAA, which develops during ICU admission of ARDS patients. The objective of this study was to investigate the incidence HAA, as well as its relationship with mortality, in COVID-19 associated ARDS patients admitted to ICU. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all adult COVID-19 ARDS patients admitted to our ICU between January 2020 and December 2021 (n=1,007). Patients with missing data (n=7) or who have a length of ICU stay of less than 24 hours (n=10) were excluded. In addition, patients with chronic anemia at admission (n=445) were also excluded, because main focus of the study was development of HAA. Anemia is defined as a hemoglobin (Hgb) value <12 g/dL in women and <13 g/dL in men by WHO. HAA was defined as a nadir Hgb value during the course of ICU stay meeting WHO criteria. We further grouped Hgb by degree into mild anemia (Hgb >11 and <12 g/dL in women, >11 and<13 g/dL in men), moderate anemia (Hgb >9 and ≤11 g/dL) and severe anemia (Hgb ≤9 g/dL). COVID-19 ARDS is diagnosed when the patient with confirmed COVID-19 infection meets the Berlin 2012 ARDS diagnostic criteria. Baseline patient characteristics, admission Hgb and lactate levels, lengths of ICU stay and in-hospital mortality of patients who developed HAA were compared with those who did not develop HAA. We further stratified the patients based on the severity of HAA. Results: HAA developed in 373 (68.4%) patients. Characteristics and mortality rates of patients with and without HAA are presents in Table 1. Table 2 shows the data of the patients by presence and severity of HAA. Conclusion: Development of HAA is common and associated with higher in-hospital mortality. Patients who developed severe HAA has the highest mortality rates (73.1%). Hospitals must raise awareness of HAA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fahr Syndrome, which is a rare neurologic syndrome, is characterized by sporadic or genetically inherited basal ganglion calcification. There are some hypotheses about the pathophysiology of Fahr Syndrome related to a defect in calcium metabolism, metastatic calcium deposits and increased free radical production. Although patients are usually diagnosed with extrapyramidal symptoms, they may also present with cerebellar dysfunction, speech disorders, dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms. We aimed to discuss sedation failure with dexmedetomidine and midazolam in a 49-year-old female patient with Fahr Syndrome who was admitted to our intensive care unit after suicidal carbamazepine overdose in this case report. Adequate sedation levels could not be reached although infusion of 1.5 μg kg-1 h-1 dexmedetomidine and bolus injections of 1.5 mg midazolam were administered. This may be due to the tolerance to sedatives developed by long-term use of antidepressant and antiepileptic agents. On the other hand; the unique sedative agent dexmedetomidine is a specific and selective α2 agonist and the widespread intracerebral calcification in our patient may have impaired α2 receptor activity. Besides, calcium metabolism disorder, one of the probable causes of Fahr Syndrome, may affect calcium-mediated inhibition of neurotransmitter release through α2 adrenoreceptors and reduced the effectiveness of dexmedetomidine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Massive PTE is a life-threatening clinical condition with high mortality.In this case report, we aimed to draw attention to a case who underwent VA-ECMO after systemic tPA with the diagnosis of massive PTE. Case: A 19-year-old male patient without comorbidity was admitted to ER with the complaint of dyspnea. PTE was diagnosed since thrombus was seen in main PA in pulmonary CT angiography. Half-dose tPA was administered to the desaturated patient during the follow-up in ER and patient develops cardiac arrest in ER. CPR is performed. Response to CPR is obtained, second arrest develops while being transferred to ICU (5 min CPR). RV dilatation, paradoxical movement in the septal wall and deviation to LV (D septum), severe hypokinesia indicating RV dysfunction were observed in bedside ECHO in ICU. The decision to apply VA-ECMO was made to the patient who developed massive PTE and shock with ECHO and CT findings. Bedside femoro-femoral VA-ECMO was performed. D septum and RV dilatation disappeared in the control ECHO. The patient’s hemodynamics returned to normal limits. However, bleeding from the cannula entry sites developed in a tPA patient before. Despite blood product replacements and pressure dressing, patient’s bleeding continued. Three hours after he was taken to VA-ECMO, patient arrested and died. Discussion: In the treatment of massive PTE, tPA and VA-ECMO can be applied. In a research consisting of cases similar to case presented in literature, it was reported that in the patient group with PTE who underwent systemic tPA and VA-ECMO, more CPR was applied before ECMO, major bleeding was more common, and there was no difference in mortality between the two groups. Massive PTE mortality is quite high. Although the response to tPA is good, adequate results may not always be obtained and more aggressive treatment modality such as VA-ECMO may be required. Hemorrhage, which is the biggest risk of VA-ECMO application after tPA, also poses a serious risk for mortality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]