title: [Intensive care medicine -- update 2004].
abstract: This manuscript gives a review about important studies addressing problems in intensive care medicine that have been published in journals focussing on critical care medicine and surgery in 2004. Only clinical studies are included in this review, mostly metaanalyses, randomized controlled trials and a few important or interesting observational studies. In addition to describing major results a critical appraisal of each study is undertaken, which, however, is neither comprehensive nor complete. It is merely intentioned to address some important aspects for the reader that should be accounted for while interpreting the results. It is important to note that among the large number of excellent studies there is a substantial proportion of trials with negative results that significantly add to our knowledge. Some of the topics addressed in this manuscript include vasopressin as an alternative to epinephrine during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a specification concerning the use of activated protein C in patients with sepsis, the role of steroids in the treatment of sepsis and traumatic brain injury, the epidemiology of ALI and ARDS, the role of sedation protocols, weaning protocols and the timing of tracheostomy for the duration of mechanical ventilation, the potential benefit of catheters with antimicrobial coating to reduce catheter-related sepsis, and the benefit of enteral nutrition as compared to the parenteral application.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Unfallchirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flohé
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lendemans
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Waydhas
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome