Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026
10:36
A Swine Model of Neonatal Asphyxia
Published on: October 11, 2011
Recently published papers: dying Swans and other stories
1Department of Critical Care, Worthing General Hospital, Worthing, UK.
Critical Care (London, England)
|August 2, 2006
Summary
Pulmonary artery catheters
Area of Science:
- Critical care medicine
- Cardiovascular research
- Pulmonary medicine
Background:
- The clinical utility of pulmonary artery catheters remains a subject of ongoing debate.
- Obesity's impact on patient outcomes requires further investigation.
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) present significant challenges in critical care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-evaluate the mortality impact of pulmonary artery catheters based on recent clinical trials.
- To investigate the association between obesity and patient outcomes in critical care settings.
- To assess a cost-effective intervention for reducing VAP and improving outcomes for OHCA patients.
Main Methods:
- Review of two recent clinical trials on pulmonary artery catheter use and mortality.
- Analysis of data linking obesity to critical care outcomes.
- Evaluation of a novel intervention aimed at reducing VAP.
- Assessment of a new strategy for improving survival rates after OHCA.
Main Results:
- Findings from recent trials provide new insights into the mortality associated with pulmonary artery catheters.
- The study confirms suspicions regarding the negative impact of obesity on patient outcomes.
- A simple, cost-effective method for reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia has been identified.
- An intervention shows promise in improving the poor outcomes associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
Conclusions:
- The ongoing debate on pulmonary artery catheter use necessitates consideration of recent evidence.
- Obesity is confirmed as a significant factor influencing critical care outcomes.
- A practical and economical approach to VAP reduction is presented.
- Interventions targeting out-of-hospital cardiac arrest offer potential for improved patient survival.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Life Histories
Constrained by limited energy and resources, organisms must compromise between offspring quantity and parental investment. This trade-off is represented by two primary reproductive strategies; K-strategists produce few offspring but provide substantial parental support, whereas r-strategists produce much progeny that receives little care. These strategies are related to an organism’s survival likelihood across its lifespan, which is represented by a survivorship curve. Three general types of...
01:23States of Water
Water exists in any one of the three classical states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (steam or water vapor). The state of water depends on i) the intermolecular forces that draw molecules together and ii) the kinetic energy that leads to movements that pull them apart.
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
Water freezes when the intermolecular forces are greater than the kinetic energy. Unlike most other substances, water is less dense in its solid state than in its liquid state. This is because each water molecule can form...
01:05Breathing
The process of breathing, inhaling and exhaling, involves the coordinated movement of the chest wall, the lungs, and the muscles that move them. Two muscle groups with important roles in breathing are the diaphragm, located directly below the lungs, and the intercostal muscles, which lie between the ribs. When the diaphragm contracts, it moves downward, increasing the volume of the thoracic cavity and creating more room for the lungs to expand. When the intercostal muscles contract, the ribs...
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
01:12Carbon Skeletons
Life on Earth is carbon-based, as all macromolecules that make up living organisms contain carbon atoms. All organic compounds have a carbon backbone. Each carbon atom is tetravalent and can bond with four other atoms, making it an extraordinarily flexible component of biological molecules. Because carbon’s valence electrons are stable, it rarely becomes an ion. As the carbon chain increases in length, structural modifications such as ring structures, double bonds, and branching side chains...
01:24Biodiversity and Human Values
Human civilization relies on biodiversity in many ways. Sudden changes in species biodiversity result in environmental changes that can modify weather patterns and therefore human civilizations.