Critical Care Reviews Newsletter

Welcome to the 563rd Critical Care Reviews Newsletter, bringing you the best critical care research and open access articles from across the medical literature over the past seven days.

The highlights of this week's edition are randomised controlled trials comparing helmet NIV with usual respiratory support in patients with COVID-19 related acute hypoxemic respiratory failure & operative with nonoperative treatment of acute unstable chest wall injuries; systematic reviews and meta analyses on automatic tube compensation during spontaneous breathing trials & antiseptic barrier caps to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections; and observational studies on muscle protein synthesis after protein administration in critical illness & the mortality of patients with hospital-onset sepsis in hospitals with all-day and non-all-day rapid response teams.

There are also guidelines on convalescent plasma use for COVID-19 & antithrombotic treatment in COVID-19; two narrative reviews on the limits of acute anemia & a physiologic approach to red blood cell transfusion in non-bleeding critically ill patients; editorials on protecting the acutely injured lung & bleeding and thrombotic issues during ECMO; and commentaries on brain tissue oxygen tension and awake prone positioning.

If you only have time to read one review article this week, try this one on the diagnosis of fluid overload.

PILOT Trial Results Livestream - Monday, October 24th

We're delighted to announce our next livestream will be the results presentation of the PILOT trial, a 2,250-patient cluster-randomized cluster-crossover trial comparing a lower SpO2 target (90%; range 88-92%), an intermediate SpO2 target (94%; range 92-96%), and a higher SpO2 target (98%; range 96-100%) with regard to the outcome of days alive and free of invasive mechanical ventilation. As usual, this will be a full, free livestream including results, independent editorial, viewers questions and expert panel discussion. It is scheduled to start at 20:00 UTC+1. More details will follow over the coming days.

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