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Query: UMLS:C0036690 (sepsis)
 59,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Patients with chronic tetraplegia are prone to develop unique clinical problems which require readmission to specialised centres where the health professionals are trained specifically to diagnose, and treat the diseases afflicting this group of patients. An appraisal of the readmission pattern of tetraplegic patients will provide the necessary data for planning allocation of beds for treatment of chronic tetraplegic patients. Hospital records of patients with tetraplegia readmitted to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, UK between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1995 were analyzed to find out the number of tetraplegic patients who required readmission, reasons for readmission, duration of hospital stay, and mortality among patients readmitted. During the 2-year period, 155 tetraplegic patients were readmitted and 44 of them (28.4%) required more than one readmission (total readmission episodes: 221); these patients occupied 4.5 beds which is equivalent to 11.5% of the total bed capacity of the spinal unit. Among the reasons for the readmissions, evaluation and care of urinary tract disorders topped the list with 96 readmission episodes (43.43%) involving 70 patients; the median hospital stay was 3 days, and 18 patients (26%) required more than one readmission during this period. One hospital bed was occupied by the tetraplegic patients requiring treatment/evaluation of urinary tract disorders. Assessment and treatment of cardio-respiratory diseases was the second most common reason for readmission with 51 readmission episodes pertaining to 27 patients having a median hospital stay of 6 days; 13 patients (48%) were readmitted more than once within this 2-year period. Treatment of cardio-respiratory diseases in chronic tetraplegic patients required 1.2 hospital beds yearly. Only five tetraplegic patients were readmitted for treatment of pressure sore(s); however they had a prolonged hospital stay (median duration: 101 days). Social reasons accounted for 13 readmission episodes concerning nine patients who stayed in the hospital for varying periods (median: 6.5 days; mean: 35 days). Four tetraplegic patients readmitted with acute chest infection expired. An 81 year-old tetraplegic died of myocardial infarction. Urinary sepsis, renal insufficiency, respiratory failure and intra-cerebral haemorrhage accounted for the demise of a 41 year-old tetraplegic patient following surgical removal of a large, impacted stone at the pelviureteric junction. A tetraplegic patient who was admitted with haematuria subsequently underwent cystectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder; he developed secondaries and expired 5 months later. As more patients with high cervical spinal cord injury survive the initial period of trauma, and as the life expectancy of tetraplegic patients increases, it is likely that greater numbers of tetraplegic patients will be requiring readmission to spinal injuries centre. Although it may be possible to prevent some of the complications of spinal cord injury and hence the need for a readmission, progress in medicine and rehabilitation technology will create additional demands for readmissions of chronic tetraplegic patients in order to implement the newer therapeutic strategies. Thus a change in the pattern of readmission of chronic tetraplegic patients is likely to be the future trend and this should be taken into account while making plans for providing the optimum care to chronic tetraplegic patients.
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PMID:A review of the readmissions of patients with tetraplegia to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, United Kingdom, between January 1994 and December 1995. 988 33

Factors determining change in ambulatory status were studied over a 12-year observation time in 60 ambulating patients with myelomeningocele. There were 26 female and 34 male subjects with a median age of 22 years (range, 12-54). We used the method of Lindseth to define the neurologic level of the lesion and classified walking ability according to the criteria of Hoffer. The prevalence of spasticity and spine and lower-limb deformities was assessed. Orthopedic and neurosurgical interventions and other medical events were registered, as well as occurrence of pressure sores, musculoskeletal pain, and use of orthoses. There were 19 patients with downward transitions in ambulatory level during the follow-up time. Factors explaining deterioration in these 19 patients included deterioration of the neurologic level of lesion, spasticity, knee and hip flexion contractures, low-back pain, lack of motivation, as well as those of major medical events like stroke, recurrent septicemia, lower limb edema, and invasive surgical interventions.
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PMID:Ambulation in patients with myelomeningocele: a 12-year follow-up. 1008 89

An open, prospective study was carried out on 45 patients with multiple injuries to compare the mortality and incidence of sepsis between those given early total enteral nutrition (TEN) when sedated with propofol and historical controls who had been given total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and sedated with midazolam. TEN was instituted immediately after surgery via gastrostomy and/or jejunostomy tube inserted during laparotomy or via an endoscope and was continued for the whole stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). Dramatic reductions in both mortality (24.4% vs 35.1% in the controls; p = 0.025) and the incidence of sepsis (8.9% vs 23.8% in the controls; p = 0.025) were found when early enteral feeding was given. The absence of pressure sores and gastro-intestinal bleeding (for example, stress ulcus), which had previously been a common occurrence in this intensive care unit, was remarkable with the introduction of TEN and propofol sedation. Tolerance problems (mainly diarrhoea) arose in only 17% of patients in the study group.
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PMID:Long-term sedation in the ICU: enteral versus parenteral feeding. 1015 May 49

The aim of the present investigation was to identify the frequency and grading of pressure sores in a large series of unselected consecutive deceased subjects before cremation and to discuss aspects of the forensic argumentation concerning causality. A total of 10,222 corpses were examined prospectively over a 1-year-period (1998) for the occurrence, localization and grading of pressure sores. Epidemiological aspects (e.g. age, sex, underlying and contributing causes of death, place of death etc.) were taken from the death certificate. The mean prevalence of pressure sores was 11.2% (87.1% isolated sores; predominant localization of advanced grades on the sacrum in 69.6%). There was a positive correlation between the prevalence of sores and advanced age resulting in a clear female predominance in the age group of 80 years and over because of differences in life expectancy. A significant correlation was found between the prevalence of pressure sores and certain underlying diseases, e.g. trauma, senile dementia, neurological diseases, apoplexy and marasmus. Pressure sores of all grades were more frequently found in the deceased when a senior citizen's or nursing home was given on the death certificate as the domicile in the last period of life. The forensic argumentation for the causal relationship of a pressure sore as the focus of fatal infectious complications or septicemia has to be based on the results of clinical expertises and forensic investigations (evaluation of the institutional documentation of the patient's course, autopsy findings, histology, immunohistochemistry). The vast majority of physicians seem to pay only little attention to the potentially fatal outcome of pressure sores and fatalities associated with this condition are clearly underreported. From the point of view of social medicine, the prevalence of pressure sores in a defined population can be seen as a parameter for the quality of nursing and medical care. In bringing these fatalities to light, the field of legal medicine contributes to a general quality control of standards of nursing and medical care.
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PMID:Pressure sores: epidemiology, medico-legal implications and forensic argumentation concerning causality. 1100 64

Enterococcus was designated a genus distinct from the streptococci in 1984. Enterococci cause a variety of monomicrobial and polymicrobial infections, mainly in compromised patients. These infections include bacteremia, urinary and biliary tract infections, intra-abdominal sepsis, and decubitus and diabetic foot ulcers. Enterococcal infections may be acquired from the patient's endogenous intestinal flora or exogenously from a fecally contaminated environment. Enterococci are inherently resistant to many antimicrobial agents and readily acquire additional resistances, which is likely the reason that enterococci have become prominent nosocomial pathogens. Only the combination of a cell wall-active antibiotic to which the Enterococcus is susceptible (ie, certain beta-lactams or vancomycin) plus an aminoglycoside (ie, gentamicin or streptomycin) is bactericidal, and is required for cure of endocarditis, meningitis and probably infection in neutropenic patients; bacteriostatic activity is sufficient to treat most other infections. Treatment of infections caused by strains resistant to beta-lactams, glycopeptides and aminoglycosides has become problematic due the limited number of therapeutic options. No medical therapy is reliably effective for endocarditis caused by strains resistant to all cell wall-active antibiotics and all aminoglycosides. New antimicrobial agents, such as linezolid and quinupristin/dalfopristin, have recently become available, but their activity against enterococci is mainly bacterostatic.
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PMID:Increasing Antimicrobial Resistance: Therapeutic Implications for Enterococcal Infections. 1109 86

Clinical challenges toward elderly residents are numerous in long-term care and nursing home facilities. Among them, protein-energy malnutrition, as well as one of its markers, weight loss, are prevalent problems. Many complications are associated with these problems and contribute to morbidity, such as pressure sores, infections, sepsis, functional decline and mortality. In this article the topic of weight loss will be examined in such a way to emphasize the importance of monitoring an individual's weight measurements and providing the physicians with some practical guidelines useful for the care of these residents.
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PMID:[Weight loss in elderly residents in nursing homes and extended care facilities]. 1114 Mar 3

Two patients with bacterial meningoencephalitis (BME) undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD) are reported. Patient 1 died of bacterial empyema caused by Streptococcus intermedius. Patient 2 was successfully treated by intravenous vancomycin (VCM), panipenem-betamipron and intrathecal VCM. Enterococcus avium from a sacral decubitus ulcer was suggested as a possible pathogen of BME in Patient 2. Autopsy findings in Patient 1 and antimicrobial options in Patient 2 are discussed with a review of the literature. In the two BME patients presented here, sepsis played an important role in their pathogenesis during the chronic HD state.
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PMID:Bacterial meningoencephalitis in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis: two case reports. 1179 81

In Belgium Infection Control Nurses must register postoperative wound infections, sepsis and ventilation associated pneumonia. At the author's hospital, the incidence of pressure sores is scored four times a year and there is a register of new patients with M.R.S.A. (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus) and tuberculosis. Procedures for hospital hygiene can be consulted in order to see which patients must be isolated and what kind of precautions must be taken. The microorganisms and diseases are sorted alphabetically and the cause of cross-infection, isolation procedure and duration of isolation are noted. These procedures must be translated to the different departments and individual patients. For instance a patient with M.R.S.A. is strictly isolated in the general hospital, but not in the psychiatric department. As far as the haemodialysis unit is concerned, patients with chronic renal disease are more sensitive to infections. For this reason correct hand hygiene is very important. Hand washing, hand disinfection techniques and the use of gloves must be promoted. A microbiological control of the hands of staff once a year, combined with an educational programme, can motivate staff in a positive way Needle-stick injuries present a serious occupational hazard for health care workers, especially those working in a haemodialysis unit. Information and needleless haemodialysis may reduce the risk of needle-stick injuries and the risk of viral transmission. Can a nurse, at risk of viral contamination and transmission, refuse to treat a patient? Is the use of hats, overshoes, glasses necessary? How many times are these materials changed, etc.? This paper presents the data of 1. years of M.R.S.A. registration at the author's hospital. M.R.S.A. has become a serious problem in many hospitals since the mid 1970s. Strenuous efforts need to be taken to control its spread. Screening of the nose of patients and of staff can be helpful. The carriers can be treated with mupirocin ointment. Body washing with chlorhexidine is preferred. The use of vancomycin and teicoplanin is a decision for the physician.
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PMID:Practical initiatives in the prevention of cross infection. 1186 90

This review addresses our present-day knowledge on the role of different cellular adhesion molecules, cytokines and glycoproteins for the detection of sepsis-induced injury in the microvasculature of the human lung using immunohistochemistry. Through the induction and modulation of endothelial cell adhesion molecules, such as E-selectin (CD 62E), the vascular endothelium controls leukocyte extravasation into tissue. E-Selectin, not expressed by unstimulated endothelium, is activated by cytokines and initiates neutrophil recruitment in sepsis-induced lung injury. Since E-selectin is strongly expressed in the pulmonary microvasculature in sepsis-associated fatalities, the immunohistochemical detection of an intense expression of E-selectin in lung tissue is a valuable diagnostic tool in the forensic postmortem elucidation of death due to sepsis. VLA-4 (CD49d/CD29) is strongly expressed on intravascular, interstitial and intra-alveolar leukocytes in sepsis-associated fatalities, whereas in non-septic fatalities an irregular weak immunoreactivity can be observed on interstitial leukocytes and no positive immunohistochemical expression can be observed on intravascular or intra-alveolar leukocytes. ICAM-1 (CD54) is strongly expressed on endothelial cells of the pulmonary microvasculature and on pulmonary macrophages and lymphocytes in sepsis-associated fatalities. In contrast, an infrequent weak immunohistochemical reaction for ICAM-1 is found on pulmonary endothelium and on perivascular leukocytes in non-septic fatalities. The up-regulation of both cellular adhesion molecules can be considered as an useful immunohistochemical postmortem marker of sepsis. Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron-binding glycoprotein located in specific (secondary) granules of leukocytes and plays a central role in the host response to infectious stimuli in providing both bacteriostatic and bactericidal protection. There is a statistically significant association between an enhanced expression of LF on pulmonary leukocytes in sepsis-related fatalities in contrast to non-septic controls. The immunohistochemical detection of an enhanced expression of LF can contribute to the postmortem discrimination between sepsis and non-septic fatalities. Application of carbohydrate-specific lectins (ConA, UEA, GSA I, GSA II, MPA, PNA, Jac, WGA, MAA, LPA, SNA) on deparaffinated lung tissue sections from sepsis-associated fatalities and control cases results to some extent in different staining patterns of alveolar epithelial cells and subepithelial seromucous glands of the bronchi. Apart from differences in binding sites for alpha-mannose, N-acetyl-neuraminic acid and alpha-(2-6)-galactose (as detected by different expression for ConA, MAA and SNA), the main finding is that no binding sites for alpha-N-acetyl-galactosamine (as investigated by MPA immunoreactivity) can be detected on alveolar epithelial cells and mucous parts of subepithelial seromucous glands in sepsis cases in contrast to the presence of such binding sites in controls. Since most intracellular pathogens persist in macrophages and epithelial cells during infection, it is likely that these pathogens contribute to a continual deprivation or consumption, respectively, of glycoproteins physiologically secreted by alveolar epithelial and glandular cells at different time points and stages of infection and may, among other mechanisms, by reducing pathogen clearance amplify the inflammatory response. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an angiogenic and chemotactic peptide, is abundantly expressed in normal lung tissue, especially in alveolar and bronchial epithelium, glandular cells of the bronchi, and activated alveolar macrophages. Pulmonary VEGF immunostaining differs in sepsis when compared to healthy individuals. In the latter a preponderant strong VEGF immunoreaction can be found on alveolar epithelium (predominately type II pneumocytes), bronchial epithelium and glandular cells of the bronchi and bronchioli, and activated alveolar macrophages. In contrast, in sepsis no VEGF immunopositivity can beivity can be observed on bronchial epithelium or glandular cells of the bronchi and bronchioli, and no or relatively sparse VEGF immunoreactivity is found on alveolar epithelial cells. The precise mechanisms of the decreased pulmonary VEGF expression in septic patients under conditions of intensive care medicine are not clear at present. During the complex cascade of excessive pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediator release involved in the host's systemic inflammatory response in the development of sepsis-induced lung injury, VEGF expression may be suppressed in sepsis by a hitherto not identified agent or the interaction of different mediators of cellular inflammation. For the detection of sepsis-induced lung injury the aforementioned markers can be used sufficiently, e.g. to give immunohistochemical evidence of a previously undiagnosed sepsis and to confirm or rule out a presumed diagnosis of a sepsis-associated fatality. The employment of the presented immunohistochemical methods will be particularly helpful when macroscopical and routine histological autopsy findings in cases of suspected fatal sepsis are unspecific or unconvincing, respectively, and clinical data on the patient's previous history are not available. Referring to the forensic argumentation regarding causality on the subject of possibly fatal septic complications, e.g. in the sequel of diagnostic or therapeutic iatrogenic injection procedures or being relevant to pressure sore-associated fatalities, aetiopathogenetic conclusions can be optimized on the basis of the described micromorphological investigations.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical detection of sepsis-induced lung injury in human autopsy material. 1293 35

Forensic pathologists are increasingly confronted with the need of expertises, which refer to neglected prevention of pressure sores in cases of suspected malpractice. In Hamburg, Germany, a monitoring system for advanced grade decubitus was established by use of routine post mortem examinations before cremation. The trend of decubitus prevalence turned out to be correlated with a local nursery-related quality improvement programme demonstrating the impact of care factors. However, forensic expertise in individual cases must balance very carefully if a fatal decubitus disease was predominantly care-related. A study on nine fatalities with advanced grade decubitus failed to show an increase of Procalcitonin (PCT) as a marker for septicemia. A suppurative osteomyelitis was found in only nine of 20 cases with grade IV decubitus. Even if there is proof for septicemia, the causality must be ensured to be truly decubitus-related.
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PMID:Medico-legal aspects of pressure sores. 1293 6


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