Items tagged “critical care”
21 results found
Article
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a form of acute lung injury and occurs as a result of a severe pulmonary injury that causes alveolar damage heterogeneously throughout the lung. It can either result from a direct pulmonary source or as a response to systemic injury.
This is a disti...
Article
Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism (PE) refers to partial or complete embolic occlusion of one or more pulmonary arteries, most commonly due to thrombus. PE is apparent as a ventilated perfusion defect on V/Q scan 35.
Non-thrombotic pulmonary emboli sources include 30:
gas embolism, e.g. air embolism, carbon...
Article
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a type of cardiomyopathy defined by left ventricular hypertrophy which cannot otherwise be explained by another cardiac or systemic disease. It is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in infants, teenagers, and young adults.
Terminology
Although hypert...
Article
Acute acalculous cholecystitis
Acute acalculous cholecystitis refers to the development of cholecystitis in the gallbladder either without gallstones or with gallstones where they are not the contributory factor. It is thought to occur most often due to biliary stasis and/or gallbladder ischaemia.
Epidemiology
Acute acalcul...
Article
Haemoptysis
Haemoptysis (plural: haemoptyses) refers to coughing up of blood. Generally, it appears bright red in colour as opposed to blood from the gastrointestinal tract which appears dark red. It is considered an alarming sign of a serious underlying aetiology.
Terminology
A variety of clinical classi...
Article
Nitrous oxide toxicity
Nitrous oxide (N2O) toxicity has serious medical sequelae affecting both the CNS and the bone marrow. Neurological effects include encephalopathy, myelopathy, and neuropathy. This results from demyelination and gliosis due to a functional deficiency of vitamin B12 1. Bone marrow toxicity may lea...
Article
Rhabdomyolysis
Rhabdomyolysis describes the breakdown of striated muscles with the release of intracellular contents and represents a severe muscle injury. MRI is the imaging modality of choice. Rhabdomyolysis is potentially life-threatening although recovery is excellent with early treatment.
Clinical presen...
Article
Midline shift
Midline shift is one of the most important indicators of increased intracranial pressure due to mass effect.
Pathology
Any intra-axial or extra-axial lesion (tumour, haemorrhage, abscess, etc.) has the potential to exert mass effect on the brain parenchyma and cause lateral shift of the midlin...
Article
Pneumothorax (ultrasound)
Pneumothorax is a serious potential consequence of blunt thoracic trauma and, if misdiagnosed, it may quickly become life-threatening.
For a discussion on epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathology, and treatment and prognosis please see the main pneumothorax article.
Radiographic feature...
Article
Sonographic approach to dyspnoea (mnemonic)
This mnemonic will help with the sonographic approach to the critically ill patient with dyspnoea:
CHEST
Mnemonic
C: collapsed lung (pneumothorax)
absence of anterior lung sliding, lung pulse, B-lines, or z-lines
these artifacts arise from the pleural interface; their presence would rule o...
Article
Bedside lung ultrasound in emergency (approach)
Bedside lung ultrasound in emergency (BLUE) is a basic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) examination performed for undifferentiated respiratory failure at the bedside, immediately after the physical examination, and before echocardiography.
The protocol is simple and dichotomous, and takes fewer...
Article
Manganese
Manganese (chemical symbol Mn) is one of the essential trace elements. It has an important biological role in the synthetic pathway for mucopolysaccharides, and it also is a cofactor for several enzymes.
Chemistry
Basic chemistry
Manganese has the atomic number 25 with an atomic weight of 54....
Article
Abdominal compartment syndrome
Abdominal compartment syndrome is a disease defined by the presence of new end-organ dysfunction secondary to elevated intra-abdominal pressure. Radiological diagnosis is difficult and usually suggested when a collection of imaging findings are present in the appropriate clinical setting or if t...
Article
Subglottic stenosis
Subglottic stenosis is a condition characterised by narrowing of the subglottic airway (region below the vocal cords). It can be congenital or acquired 1.
Epidemiology
Subglottic stenosis is the third most common congenital airway abnormality. The incidence of subglottic stenosis has decreased...
Article
Stroke volume
The stroke volume (SV) is referred to as the volume of blood ejected into the aorta or main pulmonary artery during each cardiac cycle. The stroke volume index (SVI) is the stroke volume corrected for the body surface area (BSA).
Usage
The stroke volume is another integral parameter used for t...
Article
Shock
Shock is a pathologic state in which cellular injury results from an inadequate degree of effective tissue perfusion 5. It is commonly subcategorized by haemodynamic parameters into hypovolaemic, distributive, cardiogenic, and extracardiac obstructive shock 1. Common causes include haemorrhage, ...
Article
Supraclavicular brachial plexus block (ultrasound)
A supraclavicular brachial plexus block is indicated for establishing sensory and motor blockade of the upper extremity, including the humerus, elbow, forearm, wrist and hand.
Indications
necessity to provide analgesia of the upper extremity for:
abscess incision and drainage
elbow dislocat...
Article
Oesophageal balloon tamponade device
An oesophageal balloon tamponade device is a form of balloon catheter designed to exert direct pressure on bleeding gastro-oesophageal varices in order to obtain haemostasis. It is considered a temporizing measure in hemodynamically unstable patients in whom endoscopic (or angiographic) interven...
Article
Acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia
Acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia is an uncommon form of exogenous lipoid pneumonia and is typically caused by the aerosolisation and aspiration of a highly viscous hydrocarbon, such as vegetable oil, mineral oil or petroleum jelly 5. The more common pulmonary toxicity exerted by hydrocarbons is ...
Case
Swan-Ganz catheter
Published
30 Nov 2022
97% complete
X-ray