The LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a comprehensive collection of pages concisely covering the core topics and controversies of critical care.
Heat stroke is hyperthermia with neurological dysfunction due to the failing thermoregulatory system; rectal temperature exceeds 40.6°C (definition varies between authors — in practice, don't be too strict especially if prehospital cooling performed)
Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus resulting from the consequences of insulin deficiency
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…
Urinary Electrolytes: used in the diagnosis of a number of electrolyte disturbances in ICU (especially when intake of electrolytes is known and relatively controlled)
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
Hyponatraemia: common problem in ICU (30% of patients have a Na < 134mmol/L). Independent predictor of mortality in ICU
Hypophosphataemia: Phosphate - important intracellular anion; 85% is stored in bone as hydroxyapapitie crystals, 14% in soft tissues, 1% in blood
Hypokalaemia: the most common electrolyte abnormality in hospitalised patients; mostly caused by drugs and GI disease
Hypocalcaemia: Reduced intake; redistribution and increased output
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)
Hyperkalaemia is a life-threatening emergency. Basic overview of hyperkalemia management
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+