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Most cases of acute pericarditis are due to idiopathic or viral causes and have a benign prognosis with symptomatic treatment. How to identify those cases due to specifically treatable causes or those cases not expected to do well would be useful to know.
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In a mixed population of adult ICU patients who had been intubated for at least 36 hours, administration of 80 mg of methylprednisolone over the 12 hours preceding extubation substantially reduced the incidence of post-extubation laryngeal edema and the need for re-intubation.
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In this retrospective study of C. difficile colitis due to a hypervirulent strain, 53% of 165 patients died.
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In patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis who are unable to expectorate sputum, culture of 3 induced sputum samples, all collected on the same day, is an effective and efficient means of diagnosis.
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Stroke prevention among elderly patients with atrial fibrillation remains a challenging and pressing health concern.
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Statin-treated patients who developed symptoms of myopathy should be treated with at least 100 mg daily of coenzyme Q10 for a minimum of 30 days (assuming CPK values and/or other liver function tests are not abnormal) before discontinuing statin therapy.
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In this randomized pilot study, preoperative coronary revascularization in high-risk patients was not associated with an improved outcome.
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A meta-analysis of 18 studies that have examined the usefulness of procalcitonin measurement in the diagnosis of sepsis finds that the diagnostic performance of this measurement is low and that the test cannot reliably distinguish sepsis from other causes of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome.
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This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial finds that early initiation of low-dose, prolonged glucocorticosteroid therapy for ARDS results in improved lung injury scores and a greater likelihood of successful extubation by day 7.
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The new guidelines recommend antibiotic prophylaxis of infective endocarditis in a much more restricted group of patients than did previous guidelines.