Demetrios James Kutsogiannis

University of Alberta | UAlberta · Department of Critical Care Medicine

Purpose: While opioids are part of usual care for analgesia in the intensive care unit (ICU), there are concerns regarding excess use. This is a systematic review of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) use in critically ill adult patients. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library. We included...

Background: Limited information exist about the epidemiology, outcomes, and predictors of weaning from mechanical ventilation in patients with spinal cord injury. Our aim was to investigate predictors of weaning outcomes for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) and develop and validate a prognostic model and score for weaning success....

Introduction Intensive care unit (ICU) lengths of stay are modified by ongoing need for haemodynamic support in critically ill patients. This is most commonly provided by intravenous vasopressor therapy. Midodrine has been used as an oral agent for haemodynamic support in patients with orthostatic hypotension or cirrhosis. However, its efficacy in...

PurposeTo assess whether pre-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD) modified the relationship between the strategy for renal-replacement theraphy (RRT) initiation and clinical outcomes in the STARRT-AKI trial.Methods This was a secondary analysis of a multi-national randomized trial. We included patients who had documented pre-existing estimated glo...

Objectives: Few surveys have focused on physician moral distress, burnout, and professional fulfilment. We assessed physician wellness and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional survey using four validated instruments. Setting: Sixty-two sites in Canada and the United States. Subjects: Attending physicians (adult, pedia...

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of mortality and long-term disability in young adults. Despite the high prevalence of anaemia and red blood cell transfusion in patients with TBI, the optimal haemoglobin (Hb) transfusion threshold is unknown. We undertook a randomised trial to evaluate whether a liberal transfusion s...

Background Up to 30% of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 require advanced respiratory support, including high-flow nasal cannulas (HFNC), non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV), or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, outcomes and risk factors for failing non-invasive respiratory support in...

Background Timing of initiation of kidney-replacement therapy (KRT) in critically ill patients remains controversial. The Standard versus Accelerated Initiation of Renal-Replacement Therapy in Acute Kidney Injury (STARRT-AKI) trial compared two strategies of KRT initiation (accelerated versus standard) in critically ill patients with acute kidney i...

Importance Studies have suggested intra-pulmonary shunts may contribute to hypoxemia in COVID-19 ARDS and may be associated with worse outcomes. Objective To evaluate the presence of right-to-left (R-L) shunts in COVID-19 and non-COVID ARDS patients using a comprehensive hypoxemia work-up for shunt etiology and associations with mortality. Design...

Background: In controlled donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD), it is common to administer premortem heparin to potential donors. This practice remains controversial because there is limited evidence for it and there is the possibility of inducing hemorrhage. To our knowledge, no previous studies have assessed the effects of hep...

The International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) COVID-19 dataset is one of the largest international databases of prospectively collected clinical data on people hospitalized with COVID-19. This dataset was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic by a network of hospitals that collect data using the ISARIC-World...

Background: Studies that have evaluated the use of intravenous vitamin C in adults with sepsis who were receiving vasopressor therapy in the intensive care unit (ICU) have shown mixed results with respect to the risk of death and organ dysfunction. Methods: In this randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we assigned adults who had been in the ICU...

Importance: The efficacy of antiplatelet therapy in critically ill patients with COVID-19 is uncertain. Objective: To determine whether antiplatelet therapy improves outcomes for critically ill adults with COVID-19. Design, setting, and participants: In an ongoing adaptive platform trial (REMAP-CAP) testing multiple interventions within multip...

Purpose There may be a difference in respiratory mechanics, inflammatory markers, and pulmonary emboli in COVID-19 associated ARDS vs. ARDS from other etiologies. Our purpose was to determine differences in respiratory mechanics, inflammatory markers, and incidence of pulmonary embolism in patients with and without COVID-19 associated ARDS admitted...

Background Intravenous (IV) vasopressors to support hemodynamics are a primary indication for intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Utilization of oral vasopressor therapy may offer an alternative to IV vasopressor therapy in the ICU, thus decreasing the need for ICU admission. Oral vasopressors, such as midodrine, have been used for hemodynamic sup...

word count: 250 Manuscript word count: 3402 Abbreviated running title: Severe COVID-19 Cohort. Potential Conflict of interest: Attached. Take home message: Countries and hospitals need to identify strategies to increase their ICU capacity (i.e., trained personnel, ICU beds and monitoring systems) to treat patients presenting to the hospital with se...

Background: Lessening Organ Dysfunction with VITamin C (LOVIT) is a blinded multicentre randomized clinical trial that compared high-dose intravenous vitamin C to placebo in patients admitted to the intensive care unit with proven or suspected infection as the main diagnosis and receiving a vasopressor. Objective: To describe a pre-specified sta...

BACKGROUND The LOVIT (Lessening Organ Dysfunction with Vitamin C) trial is a blinded multicenter randomized clinical trial comparing high-dose intravenous vitamin C to placebo in patients admitted to the intensive care unit with proven or suspected infection as the main diagnosis and receiving a vasopressor. OBJECTIVE We aim to describe a prespeci...

Multimodality neuromonitoring (MMM) encompasses both static and dynamic techniques which evaluate cerebral structure, vasculature, and electrical and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) chemical function. These modalities include transcranial Doppler/color-coded sonography; CT and MRI perfusion; intracerebral pressure and intraparenchymal cerebral oxygen mon...

Due to the large number of patients with severe COVID-19, many were treated outside of the traditional walls of the ICU, and in many cases, by personnel who were not trained in critical care. The clinical characteristics and the relative impact of caring for severe COVID-19 patients outside of the ICU is unknown. This was a multinational, multicent...

Importance: The evidence for benefit of convalescent plasma for critically ill patients with COVID-19 is inconclusive. Objective: To determine whether convalescent plasma would improve outcomes for critically ill adults with COVID-19. Design, setting, and participants: The ongoing Randomized, Embedded, Multifactorial, Adaptive Platform Trial f...

Background The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruit...

Importance Growing interest in microbial dysbiosis during critical illness has raised questions about the therapeutic potential of microbiome modification with probiotics. Prior randomized trials in this population suggest that probiotics reduce infection, particularly ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), although probiotic-associated infections...

Background: Patients with acute traumatic cervical or high thoracic level spinal cord injury (SCI) typically require mechanical ventilation (MV) during their acute admission. Placement of a tracheostomy is preferred when prolonged weaning from MV is anticipated. However, the optimal timing of tracheostomy placement in patients with acute traumatic...

PurposeTo study the efficacy of lopinavir-ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods Critically ill adults with COVID-19 were randomized to receive lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, combination therapy of lopinavir-ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine or no antiviral therapy (cont...

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection has enormously impacted our lives. Clinical evidence has implicated the emergence of cytokine release syndrome as the prominent cause of mortality in COVID-19 patients. In this study, we observed massive elevation of plasma Galectin-9 (Gal-9) in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). By using the...

Assessment of efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) following life-threatening COVID-19. This was an open-label, randomised clinical trial of ICU patients with life-threatening COVID-19 (positive RT-qPCR plus ARDS, sepsis, organ failure, hyperinflammation). Study was terminated after 87/120 patients enrolled. Standard treatment plus TPE (n...

Optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) ultrasound is becoming increasingly more popular for estimating raised intracranial pressure (ICP). We performed a systematic review and analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of ONSD when compared to the standard invasive ICP measurement. Method: We performed a systematic search of PUBMED and EMBASE for studies in...

Background The efficacy of interleukin-6 receptor antagonists in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear. Methods We evaluated tocilizumab and sarilumab in an ongoing international, multifactorial, adaptive platform trial. Adult patients with Covid-19, within 24 hours after starting organ support in the intensiv...

Background The minimum duration of pulselessness required before organ donation after circulatory determination of death has not been well studied. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study of the incidence and timing of resumption of cardiac electrical and pulsatile activity in adults who died after planned withdrawal of life-sustain...

Background Patients with acute traumatic cervical or high thoracic level spinal cord injury (SCI) typically require mechanical ventilation (MV) during their acute admission. Placement of a tracheostomy is preferred when prolonged weaning from MV is anticipated. However, the optimal timing of tracheostomy placement in patients with acute traumatic S...

Background: Clinical data on patients admitted to hospital with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) provide clinicians and public health officials with information to guide practice and policy. The aims of this study were to describe patients with COVID-19 admitted to hospital and intensive care, and to investigate predictors of outcome to charact...

Rationale: Understanding the magnitude of moral distress and its associations may point to solutions. Objective: To understand the magnitude of moral distress and other measures of wellness in Canadian critical care physicians, to determine any associations among these measures, and to identify potentially modifiable factors. Methods: This was...

Objectives To evaluate the safety of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in adult patients with serious/life-threatening COVID-19 requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and associated 28-day mortality. Serious and life threatening COVID-19 are defined as per published literature (please, refer to the full protocol, Additional file 1). The rat...

Peripheral neuropathies including Guillain‐Barré syndrome may be linked to life‐threatening COVID‐19. Plasma exchange is a safe rescue therapy in severe COVID‐19 with associated neurological manifestations and thromboinflammation.

Scarce data exist regarding the natural history of lung lesions detected on ultrasound in those who survive severe COVID‐19 pneumonia. Objective We performed a prospective analysis of point‐of‐care ultrasound (POCUS) findings in critically ill COVID‐19 patients during and after hospitalization. Methods We enrolled 171 COVID‐19 intensive care unit...

Abstract Background Fulminant (life-threatening) COVID-19 can be associated with acute respiratory failure (ARF), multi-system organ failure and cytokine release syndrome (CRS). We present a rare case of fulminant COVID-19 associated with reverse-takotsubo-cardiomyopathy (RTCC) that improved with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE). Case presentation...

Purpose We investigated the effect of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) on life-threatening COVID-19; presenting as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) plus multi-system organ failure and cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Materials and methods We prospectively enrolled ten consecutive adult intensive care unit (ICU) subjects [7 males; median...

Introduction In a patient-centred and family-centred approach to organ donation, compassion is paramount. Recent guidelines have called for more research, interventions and approaches aimed at improving and supporting the families of critically ill patients. The objective of this study is to help translate patient-centred and family-centred care in...

PurposeCanadian donor management practices have not been reported. Our aim was to inform clinicians and other stakeholders about the range of current practices.Methods This prospective observational cohort study enrolled consecutive, newly consented organ donors from August 1 2015 to July 31 2018 at 27 academic and five community adult intensive ca...

PurposeDonation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) has been performed in Canada since 2006. Numerous aspects of donor management remain controversial.Methods We performed a multicentre cohort study involving potential DCD donors in western Canada (2008–2017), as well as recipients of their organs, to describe donor characteristics and c...

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of esophageal stimulation on nutritional adequacy in critically ill patients at risk for enteral feeding intolerance. Design: A multicenter randomized sham-controlled clinical trial. Setting: Twelve ICUs in Canada. Patients: We included mechanically ventilated ICU patients who were given moderate-to-high do...

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Risk factors for in-hospital mortality include older age, co-morbidity, and TBI severity. Few studies have investigated the role of sepsis in individuals with TBI. Methods: We studied adult patients with TBI admitted to intensive care over a 5-year period. Patie...

Purpose Patients with cirrhosis and concomitant coronary/valvular heart disease present a clinical dilemma. The therapeutic outcome of major cardiac surgery is significantly poorer in patients with cirrhosis compared with patients without cirrhosis. To address this, we aimed to identify associations between the severity of cirrhosis and post-cardia...

Background Transplantation is the most effective treatment for many patients with end-stage organ failure. There is a gap between the number of patients who would benefit from transplantation and availability of organs. We assessed maximum potential for deceased donation in Alberta and barriers to increasing the donation rate. Methods All deaths t...

Purpose The Canadian Province of Alberta has no presumed consent for organ- donation, and has had chronically low deceased-donation rates. To address this, the government sponsored a public organ-donation registry, which was launched in 2013. Registration was encouraged by using a behavioural economic “nudge”, of prompted choice to enrol at driver'...

Purpose Deceased donation data requires standardization to enable accurate interprovincial and international comparisons of deceased donation performance. In Canada, most provincial organ donation organizations (ODOs) have developed different processes and infrastructures for referring potential donors and subsequent data collection. This has led t...

Introduction Delirium is a common complication of critical illness, associated with negative patient outcomes. Preventive or therapeutic interventions are mostly ineffective. Although relaxation-inducing approaches may benefit critically ill patients, no well-designed studies target delirium prevention as a primary outcome. The objective of this st...

Background: Over 70% of patients are prescribed antibiotics during their intensive care (ICU) admission. The gut microbiome is dramatically altered early in an ICU stay, increasing the risk for antibiotic associated diarrhea (AAD) and Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). Evidence suggests that some probiotics are effective in the primary prevent...

Cardiac transplantation has become limited by a critical shortage of suitable organs from brain-dead donors. Reports describing the successful clinical transplantation of hearts donated following circulatory death (DCD) have recently emerged. Hearts from DCD donors suffer significant ischemic injury prior to organ procurement; therefore, the tradit...

Introduction Research on the management of deceased organ donors aims to improve the number and quality of transplants and recipient outcomes. In Canada, this research is challenged by regionalisation of donation services within provinces and the geographical, clinical and administrative separation of donation from transplantation services. This st...

Abstract Background Nutrition guidelines recommendations differ on the use of parenteral nutrition (PN), and existing clinical trial data are inconclusive. Our recent observational data show that amounts of energy/protein received early in the intensive care unit (ICU) affect patient mortality, particularly for inadequate nutrition intake in patien...

Background Apnea testing is an essential step in the clinical diagnosis of brain death. Current international guidelines recommend placement of an oxygen (O2) insufflation catheter into the endotracheal tube to prevent hypoxemia, but use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) valve may be more effective at limiting arterial partial pressur...

Purpose: Very elderly (over 80 yr of age) critically ill patients admitted to medical-surgical intensive care units (ICUs) have a high incidence of mortality, prolonged hospital length of stay, and dependent living conditions should they survive. The primary purpose of this study is to describe the outcomes and differences in outcomes between very...

Background: Vasopressin is one of the vasopressors used to augment blood pressure in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients with clinically significant vasospasm. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the administration of vasopressin to a population of SAH patients was an independent predictor of developing hyponatremia. Meth...

Background: Very elderly (80 years of age and above) critically ill patients admitted to medical intensive care units (ICUs) have a high incidence of mortality, prolonged hospital length of stay, and living in a dependent state should they survive. Objective: The objective was to develop a clinical prediction tool for hospital mortality to impro...

Objective: We sought to develop and internally validate a clinical prediction model to estimate the outcome of very elderly patients 12 months after being admitted to ICU. Design: Prospective, longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Twenty-two Canadian ICUs. Patients: We recruited 527 patients 80 years or older who had a medical or urgent surgic...

The extent of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) use for patients with acute respiratory failure in Canadian hospitals, indications for use and associated outcomes are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To describe NIV practice variation in the acute setting. METHODS: A prospective observational study involving 11 Canadian tertiary care centres was performed. Data reg...