Classification of Vasoactive Drugs
Classification of Vasoactive Drugs
The LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a comprehensive collection of pages concisely covering the core topics and controversies of critical care.
Classification of Vasoactive Drugs
Oculocephalic and oculovestibular reflexes are primarily used to determine whether a patient's brainstem is intact (e.g. coma or brain death assessment)
Hearing Loss in ICU is an under-appreciated problem: Conductive (external ear; middle and inner ear; Sensorineural)
Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is the most common and most severe acute paralytic neuropathy, consisting of multiple variants with distinct clinical and pathological features
Horner Syndrome = unilateral interruption of ascending cervical sympathetic innervation eye and face.
HSV Encephalitis: severe viral infection of the central nervous system, caused by a herpes simplex virus and usually localised to the temporal and frontal lobe; most commonly identified cause of infectious encephalitis; 5-10% of encephalitis cases worldwide
Hypoxic Brain Injury: in adults, typically occurs after cardiac arrest, trauma or drug overdose; degree of injury proportional to duration and severity of oxygen deprivation to the brain
Myasthenia Gravis: autoimmune disruption of post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors at NMJ; up to 80% of functional receptors loss; typically young woman; may have thymus hyperplasia; prevalence = 14.2 cases per 100,000
Myopathy versus Neuropathy
Neurology Literature Summaries
Non-Convulsive Status Epilepticus (NCSE) is a persistent change in the level of consciousness, behaviour, autonomic function, and sensorium from baseline associated with continuous epileptiform EEG changes, but without major motor signs
Airway exchange catheter; aka airway exchange guide; examples include the Cook Airway Exchange Catheter and the Aintree Intubation Catheter