Background and Objectives: The simplified interpretation of serum ferritin levels, according to which low ferritin levels indicate iron deficiency and high levels indicate hemochromatosis is obsolete, as in the presence of inflammation serum ferritin levels, no longer correlate with iron stores. However, further data are needed to interpret serum ferritin levels correctly in patients with ongoing inflammation. Our study aimed to assess serum iron and ferritin dynamics in patients with long intensive care unit (ICU) stay and the possible correlations with organ dysfunction progression and outcome. Materials and Methods: We conducted a prospective study in a university hospital ICU over six months. All patients with an ICU length-of-stay of more than seven days were enrolled. Collected data included: demographics, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, admission, weekly serum iron and ferritin levels, ICU length-of-stay and outcome. Interactions between organ dysfunction progression and serum iron and ferritin levels changes were investigated. Outcome predictive value of serum ferritin was assessed. Results: Seventy-two patients with a mean ICU length-of-stay of 15 (4.4) days were enrolled in the study. The average age of patients was 62 (16.8) years. There were no significant differences between survivors (39 patients, 54%) and nonsurvivors (33 patients, 46%) regarding demographics, serum iron and ferritin levels and SOFA score on ICU admission. Over time, serum iron levels remained normal or low, while serum ferritin levels statedly increased in all patients. Serum ferritin increase was higher in nonsurvivors than survivors. There was a significant positive correlation between SOFA score and serum ferritin (r = 0.7, 95% CI for r = 0.64 to 0.76, p < 0.01). The predictive outcome accuracy of serum ferritin was similar to the SOFA score. Conclusions: In patients with prolonged ICU stay, serum ferritin dynamics reflects organ dysfunction progression and parallels SOFA score in terms of outcome predictive accuracy.

Two different operational procedures are proposed for evaluating and predicting the onset of epileptic and eclamptic seizures. The first procedure analyzes the electrical activity of the brain (EEG signals) using nonlinear dynamic methods (the time variations of the standard deviation, the variance, the skewness and the kurtosis; the evolution in time of the spatial–temporal entropy; the variations of the Lyapunov coefficients, etc.). The second operational procedure reconstructs any type of EEG signal through harmonic mappings from the usual space to the hyperbolic one using the time homographic invariance of a multifractal-type Schrödinger equation in the framework of the scale relativity theory (i.e., in a multifractal paradigm of motions). More precisely, the explicit differential descriptions of the brain activity in the form of 2 × 2 matrices with real elements disclose, through the in-phase coherences at various scale resolutions (i.e., as scale transitions), the multitude of brain neuronal dynamics, especially sequences of epileptic and eclamptic seizures. These two operational procedures are not mutually exclusive, but rather become complementary, offering valuable information concerning epileptic and eclamptic seizures. In such context, the prediction of epileptic and eclamptic seizures becomes fundamental for patients not responding to medical treatment and also presenting an increased rate of seizure recurrence.

Background: The diet and physical activity of the world’s population determine the increase in the number of bariatric surgeries. The most common types of bariatric surgery are laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and Roux-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Surgical interventions are carried out in patients with numerous comorbidities, among which the most common are cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study was to review the literature regarding the safety and results of surgical treatment in patients with cardiac revascularization prior to surgery. Methods: We performed an online search in Pubmed in September 2023 to identify articles that reported cardiac revascularization prior to bariatric surgery. The extracted information included details of the working method, number of patients, types of cardiovascular disease—heart failure (HF) and cardiac artery disease (CAD), types of revascularization—coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or both CABG + PCI, demographic data (age, gender, race), clinical characteristics (body mass index—BMI, smoking status), comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, prior myocardial infarction), postoperative complications, and postoperative results. Results: A total of 171 records were identified by the initial search, and 165 papers were excluded after applying the exclusion criteria (types of cardiovascular disease, types of revascularization, and demographic data). We evaluated a group of 9479 patients of which 730 had HF, 2621 CAD, and 1426 underwent prior cardiac revascularization. The analysis of the demographic data showed an average age of 55.5 years and a fluctuation of the male gender between 39% and 71.1%, and the female gender between 28.9% and 61%. The main types of bariatric interventions were RYGB (3659 cases) and LSG (659 cases), to which adjustable gastric band (AGB) and bilio-pancreatic diversion—duodenal switch (BPD-DS) were added. Among the most postprocedural complications were ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (2 patients), gastro-intestinal bleeding (51 cases), pulmonary embolism (1 patient), arrhythmia (3 patients) and pacemaker insertion (1 patient). The recorded postoperative mortality rate was 0.42% (6 cases). Conclusions: Bariatric surgery remains safe in patients with cardiac revascularization. These finding need to be confirmed in more large-scale randomized trials.

Surgical APGAR Score (SAS) is based only on intraoperative data and has the advantage of being easy to calculate. Low SAS was associated with an increased risk for postoperative complications, but its utility for specific outcomes prediction, such as postoperative cardiovascular, renal, or metabolic dysfunction is less investigated. Our study aimed to investigate SAS predictive value for early postoperative organ dysfunction in a surgical oncological population. This is a prospective observational study that enrolled all consecutive patients submitted to oncologic surgery over 20-days. Registered parameters included demographics, comorbidities, diagnosis and surgery data, SAS score, postoperative complications, organ dysfunction and in-hospital mortality. SAS predictive value for postoperative organ dysfunction was assessed using logistic regression and ROC curves. The study included 205 oncological patients with a mean age (standard deviation) of 60 (12.8) years. SAS was between 8 and 10 in 60% of patients and between 0 and 7 in 40% of patients. Postoperative complications developed in 33 patients (16.1%) and organ dysfunction in 26 patients (12.7%). The rates of postoperative complications, organ dysfunction and mortality, were significantly higher in patients with a low SAS (0–7) than high SAS (8–10). SAS had a low discrimination capacity to distinguish between patients who will develop postoperative complications and those who will not (AUROC 0.65) but was more accurate in identifying surgical oncological patients at risk for cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction (AUROC 0.83 and 0.85 respectively). SAS may be a useful tool to identify cancer surgery patients at risk for postoperative cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction.

Background: Critically ill cancer patients have an increased risk of developing acute neurological signs. The study objective was to evaluate the use and the usefulness of emergency head computed tomography (EHCT) in this category of patients. Patients and methods: This retrospective, single-centre, cohort study included patients with EHCT performed during Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission for a period of three years. Indications, imagistic findings, type of malignancy, and outcome were evaluated to identify diagnostic yield and correlations between abnormal findings on positive scans, malignancy type, and mortality rate. Results: Sixty-four EHCTs were performed in 54 critically ill cancer patients, with 32 scans (50%) showing previously unknown lesions and considered to be positive. The most frequent abnormal findings were ischemic (15 EHCTs, 47%) and haemorrhagic (13 EHCTs, 40%) lesions. Thirty-eight EHCTs (59%) were indicated for altered mental status, with a positivity rate of 50%. Eighteen EHCTs (48%) were performed in hematological malignancy patients: 9 (50%) of which were positive with 8/9 (89%) displaying hemorrhagic lesions. Twenty EHCTs were performed in solid tumour patients, 10 (50%) of which were positive, with 9/10 (90%) displaying ischemic lesions. Out of 54 patients, 30 (55%) died during ICU stay. The mortality rate was higher in patients with hematological malignancies and positive EHCT (78% vs . 58%). Conclusions: Diagnostic yield of EHCT in critically ill cancer patients is much higher than in other categories of ICU patients. We support the systematic use of EHCT in critically ill, mainly hemato-oncological patients with nonspecific neurological dysfunction, as it may lead to early identification of intracranial complications.

The Use of Ertapenem in Postoperative Polymicrobial Peritonitis - case report