Category CCC

The LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a comprehensive collection of pages concisely covering the core topics and controversies of critical care.

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Calcium Metabolism

Calcium: highly regulated cation
involved in: cell death, duration and strength of cardiac muscle contraction, muscle contraction in blood vessels, airways and uterus, coagulation, bone metabolism, neurotransmitter and hormone release…

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Urinary Electrolytes

Urinary Electrolytes: used in the diagnosis of a number of electrolyte disturbances in ICU (especially when intake of electrolytes is known and relatively controlled)

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

SIADH

Syndrome Of Inappropriate ADH secretion (SIADH) is hyponatraemia due to an increase in concentration of ADH inappropriate to the current osmotic or volume status. The differential diagnosis includes ADH analogues

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hyponatraemia

Hyponatraemia: common problem in ICU (30% of patients have a Na < 134mmol/L). Independent predictor of mortality in ICU

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hypophosphataemia

Hypophosphataemia: Phosphate - important intracellular anion; 85% is stored in bone as hydroxyapapitie crystals, 14% in soft tissues, 1% in blood

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hypokalaemia

Hypokalaemia: the most common electrolyte abnormality in hospitalised patients; mostly caused by drugs and GI disease

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hypernatraemia

Hypernatraemia can be caused by a number of critical illnesses: water depletion (decreased intake, hypotonic fluid loss – renal/non-renal); solute excess (Na+ or other)

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hypercalcaemia

Ca2+ exists in the extracellular plasma two states: (1) free ionized state and (2) bound to other molecules (mostly albumin, rest – beta-globulins, phosphate, citrate)
ionized Ca2+ concentration is inversely related to pH -> an increase in pH results in a decrease in ionized Ca2+

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Clostridium difficile and PMC

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC); acute inflammatory disease of colon commonly associated with antibiotic use; C. difficile implicated as a causative organism in 1970’s

CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Portopulmonary syndrome

Portopulmonary Syndrome is NOT considered contraindication to liver transplantation; affects ~20% of pre-transplant patients; usually due to increased blood flow through the lungs without increased resistance