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

Antidotes Summary

Antidotes are agents that counteract the effects of a toxic agent on the body. They do not primarily affect the systemic absorption or removal of toxic agents from the body (i.e. decontamination and enhanced elimination respectively)
Everything ECMO

Everything ECMO

In specialist centres, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a now a mainstay of the management of cardio/respiratory failure refractory to other measures. However, much of the clinical information required to care for ECMO patients at the bedside remains inaccessible to…
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Euboxia and (Ab)Normality

WHAT IS EUBOXIA? ‘Euboxia‘ is the pathophysiological state whereby ‘all boxes on a pathology print-out are in the normal range’ (Reade, 2009). LITFL — Don’t put your patient in a box Reade MC (2009). Should we question if something works…
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Gas-forming infections

emphysematous cystitis or pyelonephritis - usually E. coli or Klebsiella; emphysematous cholecystitis - 1/3 Clostridium perfringens, the rest are mostly E. coli or Klebsiella
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Exercise-associated Hyponatremia

A 30 year-old female was BIBA to the ED following a seizure. She was running a marathon in hot weather. Nearing the end, after 5 hours running, she was seen fall to the ground and had a generalised tonic-clonic seizure.
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Hyponatraemia CCC

Exercise-associated Hyponatremia HYPOnatremia Interpretation Seizures, hyponatremia and ADH Cause of HYPOnatraemia Definition: Serum sodium <130mEq/l Cause: Excess of Water relative to Sodium Affects: 1% of hospital population Hypovolemic (Na deficit in xs of water deficit) (test urine sodium) RENAL (urinary…
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Diffuse Alveolar Haemorrhage

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage is an acute, life-threatening event, and repeated episodes can lead to organizing pneumonia, collagen deposition in small airways, and, ultimately, fibrosis
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Deconditioning in Critical Illness

Deconditioning occurs as a result of restricted physical activity, and reduces the ability to perform work; can occur with relatively short periods of immobility; affected by age, premorbid state, specific illness and medications
CCC Critical Care compendium 340

Open Fractures

An open fracture is a fracture that communicates with an overlying disruption of the skin and soft tissues. They are also called compound fractures. Open fractures are potentially limb-threatening injuries.