Serum procalcitonin (PCT) concentration is used to guide antibiotic decisions in choice, timing, and duration of anti-infection therapy to avoid antibiotic overuse. Thus, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to seek evidence of different PCT-guided antimicrobial strategies for critically ill patients in terms of predefined clinical outcomes. We searched for relevant studies in PubMed, Embase, Web of Knowledge, and the Cochrane Library up to 25 February 2017. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included if they reported data on any of the predefined outcomes in adult ICU patients managed with a PCT-guided algorithm or according to standard care. Results were expressed as risk ratio (RR) or mean difference (MD) with accompanying 95% confidence interval (CI). We included 13 trials enrolling 5136 patients. These studies used PCT in three clinical strategies: initiation, discontinuation, or combination of antibiotic initiation and discontinuation strategies. Pooled analysis showed a PCT-guided antibiotic discontinuation strategy had fewer total days with antibiotics (MD − 1.66 days; 95% CI − 2.36 to − 0.96 days), longer antibiotic-free days (MD 2.26 days; 95% CI 1.40–3.12 days), and lower short-term mortality (RR 0.87; 95% CI 0.76–0.98), without adversely affecting other outcomes. Only few studies reported data on other PCT-guided strategies for antibiotic therapies, and the pooled results showed no benefit in the predefined outcomes. Our meta-analysis produced evidence that among all the PCT-based strategies, only using PCT for antibiotic discontinuation can reduce both antibiotic exposure and short-term mortality in a critical care setting.

Critical care medicine began in mainland China in the early 1980s. After almost 30 years of effort, it has been recognized as a specialty very recently. However, limited data suggest that critical care resources, especially ICU beds, are inadequate compared with those of developed countries. National critical care societies work together to set up good practice standards, and to improve academic levels with scientific meetings, education programs, and training courses. Critical care research in mainland China is beginning to evolve, with great potential for improvement.

Introduction: Left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is common in septic shock. Its association with the clinical outcome is still controversial. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) is a useful tool to quantify LV function; however, little knowledge is available about the prognostic value of these TDI variables in septic shock. Therefore, we performed this prospective study to determine the role of TDI variables in septic shock. Methods: Patients with septic shock in a medical intensive care unit were studied with transthoracic echocardiography with TDI within 24 hours after the onset of septic shock. Baseline clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic variables were prospectively collected. Independent predictors of 90-day mortality were analyzed with the Cox regression model. Results: During a 20-month period, 61 patients were enrolled in the study. The 90-day mortality rate was 39%; the mean APACHE IV score was 84 (68 to 97). Compared with survivors, nonsurvivors exhibited significantly higher peak systolic velocity measured at the mitral annulus (Sa) (11.0 (9.1 to 12.5) versus 7.8 (5.5 to 9.0) cm/sec; P < 0.0001), lower PaO₂/FiO₂ (123 (83 to 187) versus 186 (142 to 269) mm Hg; P = 0.002], higher heart rate (120 (90 to 140) versus 103 (90 to 114) beats/min; P = 0.004], and ahigher dose of norepinephrine (0.6 (0.2 to 1.0) versus 0.3 (0.2 to 0.5) μg/kg/min; P = 0.007]. In the multivariate analysis, Sa > 9 cm/sec (hazard ratio (HR), 5.559; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.160 to 14.305; P < 0.0001), dose of norepinephrine (HR, 1.964; 95% CI, 1.338 to 2.883; P = 0.001), and PaO₂/FiO₂ (HR, 0.992; 95% CI, 0.984 to 0.999; P = 0.031) remain independent predictors of 90-day mortality in septic-shock patients. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that LV systolic function as determined by TDI, in particular, Sa, might be associated with mortality in patients with septic shock.

Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) in non-HIV patients is still a challenge for intensivists. The aim of our study was to evaluate mortality predictors of PJP patients requiring Intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Retrospectively review medical records of patients with diagnosis of PJP admitted to four ICUs of two academic medical centers from October 2012 to October 2015. Eighty-two patients were enrolled in the study. Overall hospital mortality was 75.6 %. Compared with survivors, the non-survivors had older age (55 ± 16 vs. 45 ± 17, p = 0.014), higher APACHE II score (20 ± 5 vs. 17 ± 5, p = 0.01), lower white blood cell count (7.68 ± 3.44 vs. 10.48 ± 4.62, p = 0.005), less fever (80.6%vs. 100 %, p = 0.033), more hypotension (58.1 % vs. 20 %, p = 0.003), more pneumomediastinum (29 % vs. 5 %, p = 0.027). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age [odds ratio (OR)1.051; 95 % CI 1.007-1.097; p = 0.022], white blood cell count [OR 0.802; 95 % CI 0.670-0.960; p = 0.016], and pneumomediastinum [OR 16.514; 95 % CI 1.330-205.027; p = 0.029] were independently associated with hospital mortality. Mortality rate for non-HIV PJP patients requiring ICU admission was still high. Poor prognostic factors included age, white blood cell count and pneumomediastinum.

Poor inter-rater reliability in chest radiograph interpretation has been reported in the context of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), although not for the Berlin definition of ARDS. We sought to examine the effect of training material on the accuracy and consistency of intensivists’ chest radiograph interpretations for ARDS diagnosis. We conducted a rater agreement study in which 286 intensivists (residents 41.3%, junior attending physicians 35.3%, and senior attending physician 23.4%) independently reviewed the same 12 chest radiographs developed by the ARDS Definition Task Force (“the panel”) before and after training. Radiographic diagnoses by the panel were classified into the consistent (n = 4), equivocal (n = 4), and inconsistent (n = 4) categories and were used as a reference. The 1.5-hour training course attended by all 286 intensivists included introduction of the diagnostic rationale, and a subsequent in-depth discussion to reach consensus for all 12 radiographs. Overall diagnostic accuracy, which was defined as the percentage of chest radiographs that were interpreted correctly, improved but remained poor after training (42.0 ± 14.8% before training vs. 55.3 ± 23.4% after training, p < 0.001). Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity improved after training for all diagnostic categories (p < 0.001), with the exception of specificity for the equivocal category (p = 0.883). Diagnostic accuracy was higher for the consistent category than for the inconsistent and equivocal categories (p < 0.001). Comparisons of pre-training and post-training results revealed that inter-rater agreement was poor and did not improve after training, as assessed by overall agreement (0.450 ± 0.406 vs. 0.461 ± 0.575, p = 0.792), Fleiss’s kappa (0.133 ± 0.575 vs. 0.178 ± 0.710, p = 0.405), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; 0.219 vs. 0.276, p = 0.470). The radiographic diagnostic accuracy and inter-rater agreement were poor when the Berlin radiographic definition was used, and were not significantly improved by the training set of chest radiographs developed by the ARDS Definition Task Force. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (registration number NCT01704066 ) on 6 October 2012.