American Thoracic Society (ATS) Conference Highlights
The ATS conference was last week in San Francisco and a few cool articles were presented. They are briefly summarized below:
1. Using a helmet vs face mask for ARDS: Non-invasive ventilation is not ideal for ARDS for a variety of reasons. At the same time, endotracheal intubation and ventilation carries some risks as well. Could a new design of a "helmet" device make a difference? This one center study from the Univ of Chicago suggests that it would: decreased rate of intubation, increase in ventilator free days, and decrease in 90 day mortality. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2522693
2. Can aspirin prevent the development of ARDS in at risk patients in the emergency department? Unfortunately, it does not appear to help. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2522739
3. Should you start renal-replacement therapy (HD, CRRT etc) in critically ill patients with AKI sooner or later? Seems to have no difference and may actually lead to patients not needing any dialysis. Really a great read if you have time. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1603017?query=OF&
4. Should I extubate at night? Lastly, probably don’t extubate at night if you can avoid it. Or just be cautious. http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/ajrccmconference.2016.193.1_MeetingAbstracts.A6150
