The Value of Preoperative Assessment
Describing the value of preoperative assessment resembles the fable of six blind men trying to describe an elephant: Each comes across different parts and creates his own version of reality…
The Coagulation Cascade in Perioperative Organ Injury
Significance of Perioperative Organ Injury Although anesthesia-related complications have decreased in the last two decades, perioperative mortality has not. The leading precursor to death after surgery is acute organ injury…
The Inflammatory Response to Surgery
Introduction Tissue damage after surgery triggers a complex inflammatory response termed sterile inflammation characterized by the release of intracellular molecules into the extracellular environment leading to receptor-mediated immune signaling cascades….
Implications of Perioperative Morbidity for Long-Term Outcomes
The practices of anesthesiology, surgery, and critical care are continuously improving. Through advances in each field, a number of patients with increasingly severe comorbidities are undergoing riskier and more complex…
Chapter 12 – Decompressive Craniectomy for Traumatic Brain Injury Patients
Abstract Mrs. Smith, a 24-year-old woman without prior past medical history, is admitted to the intensive care unit after a motor vehicle collision with ejection from the vehicle, during which…
Chapter 11 – Decompressive Craniectomy for Stroke Patients
Abstract Mr. Johnson is a 62-year-old man with no prior past medical history who is admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after suffering a large cryptogenic stroke in the…
Chapter 13 – Severe Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury
Abstract A 43-year-old woman was an unrestrained passenger in a high-speed motor vehicle collision. She was found by emergency medical services to be poorly responsive, with hypotension, mild bradycardia, and…
Chapter 19 – Measuring and Evaluating Shared Decision-Making in the Intensive Care Unit
Abstract Shared experiences are inherently challenging to measure and evaluate, and shared decision-making (SDM) in the context of critical illness is no exception. The shared nature of a decision is…
Chapter 20 – Brain Death Discussions
Abstract In 1959, shortly after the invention of positive pressure ventilation, Pierre Mollaret and Maurice Goulon published the first description of what would eventually be referred to as “brain death”…
Chapter 18 – The Role of Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit
Abstract Originating mostly in the world of oncology, palliative care has matured into a wide-ranging field aimed at improving the quality of life of all patients and their families facing…
