Category Archives: issue

SIRS Triggered by Acute Right Ventricular Function, Mimicked Septic Shock

Yingke He1, John Ong2, Thuan Tong Tan3, Brian K. P. Goh4, Sharon G. K. Ong5

1 Division of Anaesthesiology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore
2 Department of Engineering, Materials Engineering and Material-Tissue Interactions Group, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore
4 Department of Hepato-pancreato-biliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore
5 Department of Surgical Intensive Care, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0022

Background: The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is a complex immune response which can be precipitated by non-infectious aetiologies such as trauma, burns or pancreatitis. Addressing the underlying cause is crucial because it can be associated with increased mortality. Although the current literature associates chronic heart failure with SIRS, acute right ventricular dysfunction has not previously been reported to trigger SIRS. This case report describes the presentation of acute right ventricular dysfunction that triggered SIRS and mimicked septic shock.
Case presentation: A 70-year-old male presented to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with elevated inflammatory markers and refractory hypotension after a robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical choledochectomy with pancreaticoduodenectomy. Septic shock was misdiagnosed, and he was later found to have a pulmonary embolus. Thrombectomy and antimicrobials had no significant effect on lowering the elevated inflammatory markers or improving the persistent hypotension. Through Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS), right ventricular dysfunction was diagnosed. Treatment with intravenous milrinone improved blood pressure, normalised inflammatory markers and led to a prompt discharge from the ICU.
Conclusion: Acute right ventricular dysfunction can trigger SIRS, which may mimic septic shock and delay appropriate treatment.

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Transient Diabetes Insipidus Following Organophosphorus Poisoning

Niraj Kumar Keyal, Amid Bhujel

Department of Critical Care Medicine, B & C Medical College and Teaching Hospital and Research Center, Birtamode, Nepal

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0023

Introduction: Organophosphorus poisoning is the most common poison used for suicidal attempt in Nepal. Diabetes insipidus is unusual and rare in this poisoning. This is the second case report of Diabetes insipidus developing in organophosphorus poisoning. Management of diabetes insipidus includes desmopressin and adequate fluid management.
Case presentation: A 34-year-old female patient accompanied by her father presented at the Emergency department with an alleged history of ingestion of unknown amount of chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and quinalphos. On admission, she had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 7/15. Her blood pressure was 110/60 mm Hg, pulse 54/min, respiratory rate 45/min and saturation 35% on room air, pinpoint pupil reactive to light and bilateral crepitations. She was immediately resuscitated with two litres of normal saline and intubated with a 7 mm endotracheal tube. Atropinisation was done, and pralidoxime was started. She developed a urine output of 250-350 ml per hour with rising sodium and serum osmolality. The urine examination showed low sodium and urine specific gravity. A diagnosis of diabetes insipidus was made. There was no immediate improvement in her GCS. She was managed with 5% dextrose and subcutaneous desmopressin and was transferred out of the intensive care unit on the sixth day and was discharged from hospital on the fifteenth day.
Conclusion: Diabetes insipidus is a rare transient complication in organophosphorus poisoning that requires careful observation and early management with desmopressin and adequate fluid balance to improve patient outcome.

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Fatal Hypocalcaemia Due to Hungry Bone Syndrome with Secondary Refractory HyperParathyroidism after Parathyroidectomy: A Case Report

Corina Pop Radu1,2, Valentin Daniealopol3, Ario Santini2,4, Ruxandra Darie3, Daniela Tatiana Sala2, 3

1 Endocrinology Department, Mures County Emergency Hospital, Targu Mures, Romania
2 University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Targu Mures, Romania
3 2nd Surgery Department, Mures County Emergency Hospital, Targu Mures, Romania
4 Hon Fellow, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0021

Introduction: Hungry bone syndrome (HBS) refers to the rapid, profound, and prolonged hypocalcaemia associated with hypophosphatemia and hypomagnesaemia, and is exacerbated by suppressed parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, which follows parathyroidectomy in patients with severe primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and preoperative high bone turnover. [1]
Case report: This report concerns a dialysed patient who underwent surgical treatment for secondary refractory hyperparathyroidism. Haemodialysis was carried out pre-operatively, and subsequently, a total parathyroidectomy with auto-transplantation of parathyroid tissue in the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) was performed. Rapid and progressive hypocalcaemia symptoms developed during the second day postoperatively. Acute cardiac symptoms with tachyarrhythmia, haemodynamic instability and finally asystole occurred, which required cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The ionic calcium level was 2.2 mg/dL being consistent with a diagnosis of HBS. A second cardiac arrest unresponsive to CPR followed an initial period of normal sinus rhythm. Death ensued shortly after. Before death, the ionic calcium was 3.1 mg/dL.
Conclusion: HBS, after parathyroidectomy in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT), may be severe, prolonged and sometimes fatal. Generally, HBS symptomatology is that of a mild hypocalcaemia. It can, however, include heart rhythm disturbances with haemodynamic alterations requiring intensive care measurements and even cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A close clinical and laboratory post-parathyroidectomy monitoring of dialysed patients is of the utmost importance.

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The Use of High Dose Eltrombopag in the Management of Sepsis-Associated Thrombocytopenia in Critically Ill Patients

Md. Jahidul Hasan1, Raihan Rabbani2, Shihan Mahmud Redwanul Huq2

1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Square Hospitals Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh
2 Internal Medicine and ICU, Square Hospitals Ltd., Dhaka, Bangladesh

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0019

Introduction: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition, and sepsis-associated thrombocytopenia (SAT) is a common consequence of the disease where platelet count falls drastically within a very short time. Multiple key factors may cause platelet over-activation, destruction and reduction in platelet production during the sepsis. Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist and is the second-line drug of choice in the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).
Aim of the study: The objective of this study was to observe the therapeutic outcome of high dose eltrombopag in SAT management in critically ill patients.
Material and Methods: This 6-month-long single group, observational study was conducted on seventeen ICU patients with SAT. Eltrombopag 100 mg/day in two divided doses was given to each patient. Platelet counts were monitored. A low platelet blood count returning to 150 K/μL or above, is taken as indicative of a successful reversal of a thrombocytopenia event.
Results: The mean Apache II score of patients (n= 17) was 18.71 (p-value: >0.05). No eltrombopag-induced adverse event was observed among the patients during the study period. Thrombocytopenia events were reversed successfully in 64.71% of patients (11; n= 17) within eight days of eltrombopag therapy.
Conclusions: The therapeutic potentiality of high dose eltrombopag regime in the management of sepsis-associated thrombocytopenia was found clinically significant in over two-thirds of critically ill adult patients enrolled in the study. These data may point to a new strategy in the management of acute type of thrombocytopenia in septic patients.

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Diagnostic Difficulties in a Severely Ill HIV Patient with Multiple Superinfections – A Case Report

Cristina Mănășturean1, Cristiana Oprea2, Dan Oțelea3, Anca Meda Georgescu1,4

1 Infectious Diseases Clinic I, Mures County Hospital , Târgu Mureș, Romania
2 Victor Babeș Clinical Hospital of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Bucharest, Romania
3 Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Bucharest, Romania
4 University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu-Mureș, Romania

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0020

Introduction: As chronic HIV infection is prone to co-infections more than any other infectious condition, many severely immune-depressed patients require advanced diagnostic investigations and complex treatment.
Case report: The case of a 30-year-old severely immune-depressed patient with AIDS, who developed neurological impairment and was diagnosed with encephalitis is presented. Multiple diagnostic approaches had to be used in order to identify the etiologic agents responsible for the clinical, immunological and biological evolution. Despite using advanced laboratory investigations and complex treatment, the patient developed multiple organ dysfunction syndromes that led to a fatal outcome.
Conclusions: Establishing etiologic relations and treatment priorities in patients with severe immunodeficiency and co-infections can prove difficult, underlining the need of rapid syndromic testing.

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Determination of Cut-off Serum Values for Resistin and S100B Protein in Patients Who Survived a Cardiac Arrest

Raluca M. Tat1, Adela Golea2, Ştefan C. Vesa3, Daniela Ionescu4

1 Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care I, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 Surgical Department of “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3 Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
4 Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care I, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Outcome Research Consortium, Cleveland, United States of America

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0018

Introduction: In an attempt to identify patients who have successfully survived a resuscitated cardiac arrest (CA), attention is drawn to resistin and S100B protein, two biomarkers that have been studied in relation to CA.
Aim: The study aimed to identify the potential cut-off serum values for resistin and S100B in patients who had CA, compared to healthy volunteers, given that, currently, none of the markers have normal and pathological reference range limits for human assay levels related to this pathology.
Materials and Methods: Forty patients, resuscitated after out-of-hospital CA and forty healthy controls, were included in the study. All patients were followed up for seventy-two hours after CA or until death. Blood samples for biomarkers were collected on admission to the ED (0-time interval) and at 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours following resuscitation. Only one blood sample was collected from the controls. The serum concentrations of biomarkers were measured.
Results: For each time interval, median serum levels of resistin and S100 B were ​​ significantly higher in patients with CA compared to healthy controls. The cut-off value for resistin in patients with CA, at the 12-hours versus controls, was > 8.2 ng/ml. The cut-off value for S100B in patients with CA versus controls recorded at 6 hours, was > 11.6 pg/ml.
Conclusion: Serum levels of resistin and S100B are higher among resuscitated CA patients compared to controls.

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Perioperative Care for Organ Transplant Recipient: Time for Paradigm Shift

Alexander A. Vitin

Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle WA, USA

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0016

Transplantation medicine, one of the emerging major medical disciplines, encompasses a wide variety of clinical subspecialties.
The concept of replacing organs which are failing or showing insufficiency, with single or multiple organs, either artificial or from donors, is accepted in literally every clinical field
There is explosive growth in the transplant sector driven by an ever-increasing patient demand fuelled by the already well-proven efficiency of organ transplantation as an ultimate treatment for end-stage organs failure and the ever-expanding infrastructure of the transplantation industry.
The foundation of this industry rests on two pillars: transplantation medicine and transplantation science. The sheer magnitude of the progress within the transplantation industry, as it stands today, maybe best illustrated by impressive statistics and facts, accomplishments and ongoing research trends. [More]

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Precision Medicine and its Role in the Treatment of Sepsis: A Personalised View

Alexandra Lazăr1, Anca Meda Georgescu2, Alexander Vitin3, Leonard Azamfirei1

1 Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Romania
2 Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Romania
3 Department of Anesthesiology & Pain, Medicine University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle WA, USA

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0017

In recent years, a new form of medicine has become increasingly significant, namely, personalised medicine (PM). PM is a form of care in which treatment is tailored for an individual patient.
PM is about using multiple data sets to create a digital human mapping. A person’s biological traits are determined by the interactions of hundreds of genes and gene networks, as well as external factors such as diet and exercise. Combining and then investigating these multiple databases with powerful statistical tools, allows a new understanding of how genetic intricacy drives health and disease and so leads to a closer personalised medical approach that targets each individual’s unique genetic make-up.
Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection, ranging from systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) to septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS). Sepsis is the most common cause of death in intensive care patients. Treatments in an ICU may need to be adapted to the continuous and rapid changes of the disease, making it challenging to identify a single target. PM is thus seen as the future of sepsis treatment in the ICU.
The fact that individual patients respond differently to treatment should be regarded as a starting point in the approach to providing treatment. The disease itself comes secondary to this concept.

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The Management of a Thirteen Weeks Pregnant Woman Rendered Brain-Dead Following a Ruptured Aneurysm

Iwona Pikto-Pietkiewicz, Antoni Okniński, Rafał Wójtowicz, Marlena Wójtowicz

Central Clinical Hospital of the MSWiA. Clinical Department of Intensive Care and Anaesthesiology. Warsaw, Poland

DOI: 10.2478/jccm-2019-0015

Introduction: The current lack of clear guidelines on how to manage cases of brain-dead pregnant patients makes this topic controversial and extremely difficult to deal with for both medical and ethical reasons. This report deals with such a situation.
Case presentation: A twenty-seven years old woman, thirteen weeks pregnant, with a ruptured brain aneurysm was admitted to an Intensive Care Unit. She presented with loss of all brain functions, but somatic support was sustained to enable the delivery of her baby.
Conclusion: The case report gives a detailed account of the management of the mother before the successful delivery of her baby. It indicates the need for ongoing contributions to the debate on this delicate subject area to establish guidelines on how to manage brain-dead pregnant patients.

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