Background:Healthcare-acquired hypernatremia (serum sodium >145 mEq/dL) is common among critically ill and other hospitalized patients and is usually treated with hypotonic fluid and/or diuretics to correct a “free water deficit.” However, many hypernatremic patients are eu- or hypervolemic, and an evolving body of literature emphasizes the importance of rapidly returning critically ill patients to a neutral fluid balance after resuscitation.Objective:We searched for any randomized- or observational-controlled studies evaluating the impact of active interventions intended to correct hypernatremia to eunatremia on any outcome in volume-resuscitated patients with shock and/or sepsis.Data sources:We performed a systematic literature search with studies identified by searching MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ClinicalTrials.gov, Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General’s Office, DARE (Database of Reviews of Effects), and CINAHL and scanning reference lists of relevant articles with abstracts published in English.Data synthesis:We found no randomized- or observational-controlled trials measuring the impact of active correction of hypernatremia on any outcome in resuscitated patients.Conclusion:Recommendations for active correction of hypernatremia in resuscitated patients with sepsis or shock are unsupported by clinical research acceptable by modern evidence standards.

Vitamin C supplementation is generally regarded as benign. There has been a resurgence of interest in the general medical community regarding the use of vitamin C most notably in the care of sepsis. Nonetheless, caution must be taken if supraphysiologic vitamin C supplementation is being administered as it should be considered a medication just like any other. We present a case of hemolysis in a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase- (G6PD-) deficient patient receiving high-dose vitamin C infusions for his rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: The negative inspiratory force (NIF) has been used to help clinicians predict a patient's likelihood of successful liberation from mechanical ventilation (MV). However, the utility of the traditional threshold of ≤−30 cmH 2 O may not be appropriate for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study aims to define the optimal predictive NIF threshold for COPD patients. Methods: A prospective-observational multi-center study was conducted in intensive care units of six academic medical centers. All patients had COPD and were intubated for hypercapnic respiratory failure. The process of weaning from MV was conducted according to the defined hospital protocol. NIF was measured after 120 min of spontaneous breathing trial (SBT). The sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive value (PPV, NPV), positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR+, LR−) were calculated, and the diagnostic accuracy recorded. Results: A total of 90 patients with COPD (39 males and 51 females) were included. Of these, 43 patients (47.8%) were successfully extubated whereas 47 patients (52.2%) failed SBT or required re-intubation ( P = 0.654). The threshold value of ≤−25 cmH 2 O offered the optimal performance in COPD patients: area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves ROC curves 0.836, sensitivity 95.0%, specificity 86.0%, PPV 84.4%, and NPV 95.6%., LR+ 6.79, LR− 0.06, and the diagnostic accuracy 90.7%. Conclusions: In mechanically ventilated COPD patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure, the NIF threshold of ≤−25 cmH 2 O was a moderate-to-good predictor for successful ventilator liberation, and outperforms the traditional threshold of ≤−30 cmH 2 O.

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