Two acute kidney injury risk scores for critically ill cancer patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery

BACKGROUND:Several risk scoures have been used in predicting acute kidney injury(AKI)of patients undergoing general or specific operations such as cardiac surgery.This study aimed to evaluate the use of two AKI risk scores in patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery but required intensive care.METHODS:The clinical data of patients who had been admitted to ICU during the first 24 hours of ICU stay between September 2009 and August 2010 at the Cancer Institute,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College were retrospectively collected and analyzed.AKI was diagnosed based on the acute kidney injury network(AKIN) criteria.Two AKI risk scores were calculated:Kheterpal and Abelha factors.RESULTS:The incidence of AKI was 10.3%.Patients who developed AKI had a increased ICU mortality of 10.9%vs.1.0%and an in-hospital mortality of 13.0 vs.1.5%,compared with those without AKI.There was a significant difference between the classification of Kheterpal's AKI risk scores and the occurrence of AKI(P<0.001).There was no significant difference between the number of Abelha's AKI risk scores and the occurrence of AKI(P=0.499).Receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.655±0.043(P=0.001,95%confidence interval:0.571-0.739) for Kheterpal's AKI risk score and 0.507±0.044(P=0.879,95%confidence interval:0.422-0.592) for Abelha's AKI risk score.CONCLUSION:Kheterpal's AKI risk scores are more accurate than Abelha's AKI risk scores in predicting the occurrence of AKI in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery with moderate predictive capability.

Risk factors and prognosis of critically ill cancer patients with postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to investigate the risk factors and outcome of critically ill cancer patients with postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency.METHODS:The data of 190 critically ill cancer patients with postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency were retrospectively reviewed.The data of 321 patients with no acute respiratory insufficiency as controls were also collected.Clinical variables of the first 24 hours after admission to intensive care unit were collected,including age,sex,comorbid disease,type of surgery,admission type,presence of shock,presence of acute kidney injury,presence of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome,acute physiologic and chronic health evaluation(APACHE Ⅱ) score,sepsis-related organ failure assessment(SOFA),and PaO_2/FiO_2 ratio.Duration of mechanical ventilation,length of intensive care unit stay,intensive care unit death,length of hospitalization,hospital death and one-year survival were calculated.RESULTS:The incidence of acute respiratory insufficiency was 37.2%(190/321).Multivariate logistic analysis showed a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases(P=0.001),surgeryrelated infection(P=0.004),hypo-volemic shock(P<0.001),and emergency surgery(P=0.018),were independent risk factors of postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency.Compared with the patients without acute respiratory insufficiency,the patients with acute respiratory insufficiency had a prolonged length of intensive care unit stay(P<0.001),a prolonged length of hospitalization(P=0.006),increased intensive care unit mortality(P=0.001),and hospital mortality(P<0.001).Septic shock was shown to be the only independent prognostic factor of intensive care unit death for the patients with acute respiratory insufficiency(P=0.029,RR:8.522,95%CI:1.243-58.437,B=2.143,SE=0.982,Wald=4.758).Compared with the patients without acute respiratory insufficiency,those with acute respiratory insufficiency had a shortened one-year survival rate(78.7%vs.97.1%,P<0.001).CONCLUSION:A history of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases,surgery-related infection,hypovolemic shock and emergency surgery were risk factors of critically ill cancer patients with postoperative acute respiratory insufficiency.Septic shock was the only independent prognostic factor of intensive care unit death in patients with acute respiratory insufficiency.Compared with patients without acute respiratory insufficiency,those with acute respiratory insufficiency had adverse shortterm outcome and a decreased one-year survival rate.

Respiratory and Cardiac Characteristics of ICU Patients Aged 90 Years and Older:A Report of 12 Cases

Objective To investigate the respiratory and cardiac characteristics of elderly Intensive Care Unit （ICU） patients. Methods Twelve senior ICU patients aged 90 years and older were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively collected all patients＇ clinical data through medical record review. The basic demographics, primary cause for admission, the condition of respiratory and circulatory support, as well as prognosis were recorded. Shock patients and pneumonia patients were specifically analyzed in terms of clinical manifestations, laboratory variables, echocardiography, and lung ultrasound results. Results The mean age of the included patients was 95 years with a male predominance （8 to 4, 66.7%）. Regarding the reasons for admission, 6 （50.0%） patients had respiratory failure, 1 （8.3%） patient had shock, while 5 （41.7%） patients had both respiratory failure and shock. Of the 6 patients who suffered from shock, only 1 was diagnosed with distributive shock, 5 with cardiogenic shock. Of the 5 cardiogenic shock patients, 1 was diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome. The rest 4 cardiogenic shock patients were diagnosed with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The patient with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction died within 24 hours. Of the 4 Takotsubo patients, 1 died on day-6 and the other 3 patients were transferred to ward after heart function recovered in 1 to 2 weeks. Of the 10 pneumonia patients, 3 were diagnosed as community acquired pneumonia, and 7 as hospital acquired pneumonia. Only 3 patients were successfully weaned from ventilator. The others required long-term ventilation complicated with heart failure, mostly with diastolic heart failure. Lung ultrasound of 6 during spontaneous breathing trial. patients with diastolic dysfunction showed bilateral B-lines Conclusions Elderly patients in shock tend to develop Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Diastolic heartdysfunction might be a major contributor to difficult weaning from ventilator in elderly patients. Bedside lung ultrasonography and echocardiography could help decide the actual cause of respiratory failure and shock more accurately and effectively.

Prognosis of patients with shock receiving vasopressors

BACKGROUND:Consensus guidelines suggested that both dopamine and norepinephrine may be used,but specific doses are not recommended.The aim of this study is to determine the predictive role of vasopressors in patients with shock in intensive care unit.METHODS:One hundred and twenty-two patients,who had received vasopressors for 1 hour or more in intensive care unit(ICU) between October 2008 and October 2011,were included.There were 85 men and 37 women,with a median age of 65 years(55-73 years).Their clinical data were retrospectively collected and analyzed.RESULTS:The median simplified acute physiological score 3(SAPS 3) was 50(42-55).Multivariate analysis showed that septic shock(P=0.018,relative risk:4.094;95%confidential interval:1.274-13.156),SAPS 3 score at ICU admission(P=0.028,relative risk:1.079;95%confidential interval:1.008-1.155),and norepinephrine administration(P<0.001,relative risk:9.353;95%confidential interval:2.667-32.807) were independent predictors of ICU death.Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that administration of norepinephrine ≥0.7 μg/kg per minute resulted in a sensitivity of 75.9%and a specificity of 90.3%for the likelihood of ICU death.In patients who received norepinephrine ≥0.7 μg/kg per minute there was more ICU death(71.4%vs.44.8%) and in-hospital death(76.2%vs.48.3%) than in those who received norepinephrine <0.7 ug/kg per minute.These patients had also a decreased 510-day survival rate compared with those who received norepinephrine <0.7 μg/kg per minute(19.2%vs.64.2%).CONCLUSION:Septic shock,SAPS 3 score at ICU admission,and norepinephrine administration were independent predictors of ICU death for patients with shock.Patients who received norepinephrine ≥0.7 μg/kg per minute had an increased ICU mortality,an increased inhospital mortality,and a decreased 510-day survival rate.

Assessment of a predictive score for pulmonary complications in cancer patients after esophagectomy

BACKGROUND:Esophagectomy is a very important method for the treatment of resectable esophageal cancer,which carries a high rate of morbidity and mortality.This study was undertaken to assess the predictive score proposed by Ferguson et al for pulmonary complications after esophagectomy for patients with cancer.METHODS:The data of patients who admitted to the intensive care unit after transthoracic esophagectomy at Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College between September 2008 and October 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.RESULTS:Two hundred and seventeen patients were analyzed and 129(59.4%)of them had postoperative pulmonary complications.Risk scores varied from 0 to 12 in all patients.The risk scores of patients with postoperative pulmonary complications were higher than those of patients without postoperative pulmonary complications(7.27±2.50 vs.6.82±2.67;P=0.203).There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications as well as in the increase of risk scores(χ2=5.477,P=0.242).The area under the curve of predictive score was0.539±0.040(95%CI 0.461 to 0.618;P=0.324)in predicting the risk of pulmonary complications in patients after esophagectomy.CONCLUSION:In this study,the predictive power of the risk score proposed by Ferguson et al was poor in discriminating whether there were postoperative pulmonary complications after esophagectomy for cancer patients.

Preventable readmission to intensive care unit in critically ill cancer patients

BACKGROUND:Readmission to intensive care unit(ICU)after discharge to ward has been reported to be associated with increased hospital mortality and longer length of stay(LOS).The objective of this study was to investigate whether ICU readmission are preventable in critically ill cancer patients.METHODS:Data of patients who readmitted to intensive care unit(ICU)at National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences(CAMS)and Peking Union Medical College(PUMC)between January 2013 and November 2016 were retrospectively collected and reviewed.RESULTS:A total of 39 patients were included in the final analysis,and the overall readmission rate between 2013 and 2016 was 1.32%(39/2,961).Of 39 patients,32(82.1%)patients were judged as unpreventable and 7(17.9%)patients were preventable.There were no significant differences in duration of mechanical ventilation,ICU LOS,hospital LOS,ICU mortality and in-hospital mortality between patients who were unpreventable and preventable.For 24 early readmission patients,7(29.2%)patients were preventable and 17(70.8%)patients were unpreventable.Patients who were late readmission were all unpreventable.There was a trend that patients who were preventable had longer 1-year survival compared with patients who were unpreventable(100%vs.66.8%,log rank=1.668,P=0.196).CONCLUSION:Most readmission patients were unpreventable,and all preventable readmissions occurred in early period after discharge to ward.There were no significant differences in short term outcomes and 1-year survival in critically ill cancer patients whose readmissions were preventable or not.

On infinite arithmetic progressions in sumsets

Let k be a positive integer.Denote by D_(1/k)the least integer d such that for every set A of nonnegative integers with the lower density 1/k,the set(k+1)A contains an infinite arithmetic progression with difference at most d,where(k+1)A is the set of all sums of k+1 elements(not necessarily distinct)of A.Chen and Li(2019)conjectured that D_(1/k)=k~2+o(k~2).The purpose of this paper is to confirm the above conjecture.We also prove that D_(1/k)is a prime for all sufficiently large integers k.

On a Discriminator for the Polynomial f(x)=x^(3)+x

Let△(n)denote the smallest positive integer m such that a^(3)+a(1≤a≤n)are pairwise distinct modulo m.The purpose of this paper is to determine△(n)for all positive integers n.