Invasive Aspergillosis among Patients with Severe Influenza in Intensive Care Units.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is widely recognized as a major cause of mortality and morbidity among immunocompromised patients. Recently, attention has been given to IPA as a complication of critically ill patients with severe influenza. However, multi-center data on influenza-associated aspergillosis (IAA) are lacking.

This IPAFLU survey aims to assess the burden of IAA in European ICUs and the use of galactomannan in the diagnosis of IPA in adult critically ill influenza patients. Furthermore, we also want to raise awareness of IAA among European intensivists.

The survey is led by Prof. Dr. Joost Wauters and has been endorsed by CDC (US),  the INF Section and ESICM.

Respiratory virus-associated severe lower respiratory tract infections in critically ill adult patients: a survey of knowledge and practice patterns among European intensivists.

The purpose of this survey is to provide data regarding the knowledge and the management of respiratory virus-associated severe LRTI by European intensivists. These data will guide future prospective studies aiming to better characterize the use and the impact of molecular diagnostic tests and the optimal therapeutic management of viruses-associated LRTI.

The survey was endorsed by ESICM Section.

Investigators: Guillaume Voiriot, Quentin Philippot, Intensive Care Unit, Tenon Hospital, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France

Ventilatory strategies in patients with severe traumatic brain injury Survey.

The potential role of protective lung ventilation, which demonstrated demonstrated a reduce in postoperative complications in the general population with and without acute distress respiratory syndrome, has been suggested even in Traumatic brain injured patients. However, lung protective ventilation can increase intracranial pressure as a result of permissive hypercapnia and of high airway pressures during recruitment maneuvers or prone position. The utility of these strategies has been proven in several groups of patients, but their use in neurocritical care patients is still uncertain.

The survey was endorsed by ESICM and NIC Section.

Steering Committee: Chiara ROBBA PhD, Edoardo PICETTI MD, Fabio Silvio TACCONE MD PhD and Professor Paolo PELOSI

Acute liver failure (ALF) is a rare condition characterized by new (no previous cirrhosis) and rapidly evolving (≤26 weeks) hepatic dysfunction associated with neurologic dysfunction (any grade of hepatic encephalopathy) and coagulopathy (INR ≥1.5). This disease may be due to several aetiologies (e.g. drug toxicity such as paracetamol and viruses such as hepatitis A, B or E), with great regional variability. The outcomes of patients with ALF have been improving throughout the decades largely because of optimized access and quality of intensive care and emergent liver transplantation.

We have developed the survey ALFinICU to try to characterize the current practice of European ICUs in treating patients with ALF. With this, we hope to contribute to generate debate and identify future educational points about this rare disease.

International survey on the Structure and Organisation of the Intensive Care Unit (ISOREA)

The present survey aims to evaluate the structures and the organisation systems of the ICUs in a large sample from high, middle, and low income countries.

The survey is endorsed by:
– ESICM (European Society of Intensive Care Medicine)
– SRLF (Société de Réanimation de Langue Française)
– SARAF (Société d’Anesthésie Réanimation d’Afrique Francophone)
– ISCCM (Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine)

Coordinator: Pr. Armand Mekontso Dessap

GSA Sepsis Quality Measures Global Survey.

Despite a recent resolution by the WHO and increasing worldwide recognition that sepsis poses a major global health threat, our knowledge of what sepsis surveillance, treatment, quality improvement (QI), and reporting practices look like across the world is surprisingly limited and fragmented.

The purpose of this survey is to characterize the current practices related to sepsis surveillance, treatment, quality improvement, and reporting worldwide.

The Principal Investigator is Pr. Konrad Reinhart, Jena University Hospital, Germany.

The survey is organised by Global Sepsis Alliance.

More information: https://www.global-sepsis-alliance.org/

The survey is part of a study initiated by the ESICM POIC Section, this is a European Society of Anaesthesiology Clinical Trial Network (ESA CTN) sponsored study and it has been endorsed by ESICM.

SQUEEZE is a prospective multi-centre international observational study of postoperative vasopressor usage.

The goal is to evaluate the proportion of non-cardiac surgical patients receiving postoperative vasopressors, the characteristics of patients, surgery and anaesthesia that lead to postoperative vasopressor use.

The Squeeze micro-survey is about the use of vasopressors in the immediate postoperative period. The responses will inform an international observational study of this topic.

Steering Committee: Ib Jammer (Norway), Ben Creagh-Brown (UK), Lui Forni (UK), Ramani Moonesinghe (UK) and Hannah Wunsch (Canada).