Acute Congestive Heart Failure in the Emergency Department

A Nomogram Based on Comorbidities and Infection Location to Predict 30 Days Mortality of Immunocompromised Patients in ICU: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background

The existing comorbidity indexes, like Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (ECI), do not take infection factors into account for critically ill patients with immunocompromise, bringing about a decrease of prediction accuracy. Therefore, we attempted to incorporate infection location into the analysis to construct a rapid comorbidity scoring system independent of laboratory tests.

Methods

Data were extracted from the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care III database. A total of 3904 critically ill patients with immunocompromise admitted to ICU were enrolled and assigned into training or validation sets according to the date of ICU admission. The predictive nomogram was constructed in the training set based on logistic regression analysis and then undergone validation in the validation set in comparison with SOFA, CCI and ECI.

Results

Factors eligible for the nomogram included patient’s age, gender, ethnicity, underlying disease of immunocompromise like metastatic cancer and leukemia, possible infection on admission including pulmonary infection, urinary tract infection and blood infection, and one comorbidity, coagulopathy. The nomogram we developed exhibited better discrimination than SOFA, CCI and ECI with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.739 (95% CI 0.707–0.771) and 0.746 (95% CI 0.713–0.779) in the training and validation sets, respectively. Combining the nomogram and SOFA could bring a new prediction model with a superior predictive effect in both sets (training set AUC = 0.803 95% CI 0.777–0.828, validation set AUC = 0.818 95% CI 0.783–0.854). The calibration curve exhibited coherence between the nomogram and ideal observation for two cohorts (p>0.05). Decision curve analysis revealed the clinical usefulness of the nomogram in both sets.

Conclusion

We established a nomogram that could provide an accurate assessment of 30 days ICU mortality in critically ill patients with immunocompromise, which can be employed to evaluate the short-term prognosis of those patients and bring more clinical benefits without dependence on laboratory tests.

Acute effects of continuous positive air way pressure on pulse pressure in chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND

Patients with heart failure (HF) have left ventricular dysfunction and reduced mean arterial pressure (MAP). Increased adrenergic drive causes vasoconstriction and vessel resistance maintaining MAP, while increasing peripheral vascular resistance and conduit vessel stiffness. Increased pulse pressure (PP) reflects a complex interaction of the heart with the arterial and venous systems. Increased PP is an important risk marker in patients with chronic HF (CHF). Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has been used for acute decompensated HF, to improve congestion and ventilation through both respiratory and hemodynamic effects. However, none of these studies have reported the effect of NIV on PP.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine the acute effects of NIV with CPAP on PP in outpatients with CHF.

METHODS

Following a double-blind, randomized, cross-over, and placebo-controlled protocol, twenty three patients with CHF (17 males; 60±11 years; BMI 29±5 kg/cm2, NYHA class II, III) underwent CPAP via nasal mask for 30 min in a recumbent position. Mask pressure was 6 cmH2O, whereas placebo was fixed at 0-1 cmH2O. PP and other non invasive hemodynamics variables were assessed before, during and after placebo and CPAP mode.

RESULTS

CPAP decreased resting heart rate (Pre: 72±9; vs. Post 5 min: 67±10 bpm; p<0.01) and MAP (CPAP: 87±11; vs. control 96±11 mmHg; p<0.05 post 5 min). CPAP decreased PP (CPAP: 47±20 pre to 38±19 mmHg post; vs. control: 42±12 mmHg, pre to 41±18 post p<0.05 post 5 min).

CONCLUSION

NIV with CPAP decreased pulse pressure in patients with stable CHF. Future clinical trials should investigate whether this effect is associated with improved clinical outcome.

An unusual cause of congestive heart failure in a young woman

BACKGROUND

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common Emergency Department (ED) disorder that accounts for >5 million ED visits annually. Although quite rare, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a serious cause of CHF that if left untreated can lead to life-threatening sequelae, such as hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease, endarteritis, and aneurysms of the ductus.

OBJECTIVE

To discuss a case of PDA leading to CHF that illustrates one of the common complications of untreated PDA.

CASE REPORT

A 35-year-old woman presented to the ED with a 2-month history of shortness of breath, dyspnea on exertion, decreased exercise tolerance, and orthopnea. The physical examination revealed a 4/6 continuous machine-like murmur. In the presence of new CHF and an atypical murmur, a transthoracic echocardiogram was performed that confirmed the diagnosis of PDA. She underwent an uncomplicated percutaneous closure of the ductus with significant improvement in her symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Persistent PDA in adulthood is a rare but important cause of CHF with significant morbidity and mortality if not appropriately diagnosed and treated.

Vascular pedicle width on chest radiograph as a measure of volume overload: meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Vascular pedicle width (VPW), a measurement obtained from a chest radiograph (CR), is thought to be an indicator of circulating blood volume. To date there are only a handful of studies that demonstrate a correlation between high VPW and volume overload, each utilizing different VPW values and CR techniques. Our objective was to determine a mean VPW measurement from erect and supine CRs and to determine whether VPW correlates with volume overload.

METHODS

MEDLINE database, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched electronically for relevant articles. References from the original and review publications selected electronically were manually searched for additional relevant articles. Two investigators independently reviewed relevant articles for inclusion criteria and data extraction. Mean VPW measurements from both supine and erect CRs and their correlation with volume overload were calculated.

RESULTS

Data from 8 studies with a total of 363 subjects were included, resulting in mean VPW measurements of 71 mm (95% confidence interval [CI] 64.9-77.3) and 62 mm (95% CI 49.3-75.1) for supine and erect CRs, respectively. The correlation coefficients for volume overload and VPW were 0.81 (95% CI 0.74-0.86) for both CR techniques and 0.81 (95% CI 0.72-0.87) for supine CR and 0.80 (95% CI 0.69-0.87) for erect CR, respectively.

CONCLUSION

There is a clinical and statistical correlation between VPW and volume overload. VPW may be used to evaluate the volume status of a patient regardless of the CR technique used.

Point-of-care testing during medical emergency team activations: a pilot study

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the prognostic value of point-of-care measurement of biomarkers related to dyspnea in patients receiving a medical emergency team (MET) review.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study.

SETTING

University affiliated hospital.

PATIENTS

Cohort of 95 patients receiving MET review over a six month period.

METHODS

We used a commercial multi-biomarker panel for shortness-of-breath (SOB panel) (Biosite Triage Profiler, Biosite Incorporated®), 9975 Summers Ridge Road, San Diego, CA 92121, USA) including Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), D-dimer, myoglobin (Myo), creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) and troponin I (Tn-I). We recorded information about demographics, MET review triggers, and MET procedures and patient outcome.

RESULTS

Mean age was 70.5 (±15) years, 38 (41%) patients had a history of chronic heart failure (CHF) and 67 (70%) chronic kidney disease (CKD). At MET activation, 42 (44%) patients were dyspneic. The multi-biomarker panel was positive for at least one marker in 48 (51%) cases. BNP and D-dimer had a sensitivity of 0.79 and 0.93 for ICU admission with a negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.89 and 0.92 respectively. Thirty-five (37%) patients died. BNP was positive in 85% of such cases with sensitivity and NPV of 0.86 and 0.82, respectively. D-dimer was positive in 77% of non-survivors with a sensitivity and NPV of 0.94 and 0.88, respectively. BNP (area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic curve--AUC-ROC: 0.638) and D-dimer (AUC-ROC: 0.574) achieved poor discrimination of subsequent death. Similar findings applied to ICU admission. The combination of normal BNP and D-dimer levels completely ruled out ICU admission or death. The cardiac part of the panel was not useful in predicting ICU admission or mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Although, BNP and D-dimer are poor discriminants of ICU admission and hospital mortality, normal BNP and D-dimer levels practically exclude subsequent need for ICU admission and hospital mortality.

Evaluation of the acutely dyspneic elderly patient

Dyspnea is among the most frequent complaints in the elderly. The prevalence of comorbid medical conditions and the physiologic changes of aging present significant challenges in determining the cause. The initial approach to the elderly dyspneic patient mandates consideration of a broad range of diagnoses. Failure to diagnose life-threatening medical conditions presenting with dyspnea such as pulmonary embolus, acute coronary syndromes, congestive heart failure, asthma, obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumothorax, and pneumonia can lead significant morbidity and mortality. This article focuses on the rapid assessment and approach to the acutely dyspneic elderly patient.