Intensivmedizin + Notfallmedizin : Organ der Deutschen und der Osterreichischen Gesellschaft fur internistische Intensivmedizin, der Sektion Neurologie der DGIM und der Sektion Intensivmedizin im Berufsverband Deutscher Internisten e.V最新文献

Acute liver failure (ALF) is characterized by loss of liver function without pre-existing chronic liver disease. Drug toxicity and viral hepatitis have been identified as the main causes of ALF in Germany. The regeneration capability of the liver and overall prognosis are determined by the underlying etiology. Advances in intensive care medicine, supportive therapy, and transplantation surgery have improved the overall outcome of ALF over the last two decades. The clinical syndrome of ALF is mainly due to a release of inflammatory cytokines from necrotic hepatocytes, which lead to disastrous consequences in the immune system and hemodynamics. The main goals of supportive intensive care therapy in ALF are early identification and treatment of infections and the prevention and therapy of cerebral hypertension.

The relevance of nursing interventions for patients with fecal incontinence/defecation problems in intensive care medicine is very often underestimated. Fecal incontinence can either be a symptom of a disease, an epiphenomenon or a primary disease. Fecal incontinence negatively influences the ability of affected intensive patients to care for themselves. Fecal incontinence and diarrhea often occur together, which in return restricts the patient's mobility. Improperly treated fecal incontinence can result in infections (e.g., skin disorders, existing catheter sores), secondary healing can be delayed (e.g., bedsores, sores on the back or groin/genital area) and can also result in contamination of other areas (e.g., intestinal infection). In the past, many improvised techniques and materials have been used to drain feces for patients who are either immobile or critically ill with temporary or persistent fecal incontinence. Continuous and safe fecal drainage is often a problem. There is no basic standard nursing concept that can be recommended or verified. At present there are a number of continuous fecal drainage systems that have been launched on the market. Different indications and fields of application have been recommended when dealing with continuous fecal drainage. This article shows weaknesses and strengths of continuous fecal drainage, explains how each functions, and illustrates possible indications and contra-indications with each of these. Deployment options and limits are presented and summarized in an algorithm as a practical help for decision-making.

Hospital emergency department preparedness for mass-casualty incidents involving nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) threats relies on close cooperation between hospital and pre-hospital emergency staff. It is essential that the hospital is immediately secured from unauthorized intrusion in order to avoid contamination of the hospital area and staff. The strategy of the pre-hospital emergency staff to avoid the unnecessary spread of contaminated material involves thorough decontamination of exposed persons near the site of the incident and coordinated transport to the primary care hospitals after decontamination. However, uncoordinated access of contaminated victims requires emergency decontamination by hospital staff. Thus, hospital staff must be prepared to provide in-hospital decontamination. Coordinated admission of contaminated patients into the NBC primary care hospital relies on a thorough decontamination by pre-hospital emergency staff at a decontamination site installed outside the hospital. Screening of patients is performed by hospital staff with special expertise in emergency medicine. Following admission, each patient is assigned to a team of specialists. Pre-hospital patient documentation is switched to inhospital documentation after admission using machine-readable electronic admission numbers.

Patients with leukemia are prone to critical illness at some time during their disease and their therapy that requires critical care. A number of these patients will have the opportunity to receive curative treatment and have an excellent probability of long-term remission if supported through a crisis. Complications that cause critical illness can be categorized as related to disease or those caused by therapy. The present review is focused on the description of the types of complications requiring intensive care, on specific aspects of the application of critical-care techniques, on organization of the intensive care unit in the context of leukemia and on ethical considerations.

Within the hematologic therapy procedures, stem cell transplantation (SCT) represents the most extensive and invasive intervention. Those patients have certain risks for several bacterial, viral, as well as fungal infections during the different stages of transplantation. Especially in allogenic transplantation, discrimination of non-infectious, mostly immunologic complications like graft-versus-host reactions or VOD (veno-occlusive disease) is crucial, and often represents a therapeutic challenge. An adequate intensive care therapy of these patients can only be achieved with the knowledge of the specific complications of SCT. This review starts with an overview of the SCT stages with their corresponding infectious and noninfectious complications, followed by the discussion of organ specific pulmonary, renal, cardiac, gastrointestinal, hepatic and neurological complications of stem cell transplantation.