Books in the Update in Intensive Care Medicine series

For many years, intensive care has focused on avoiding immediate death from acute, life-threatening conditions. However, there are increasing reports of a number of lingering consequences for those who do indeed survive intensive care. Examples include on-going high risk of death, neurocognitive defects, significant caregiver burden, and continued high healthcare costs.Surviving Intensive Care, written by the world's experts in this area, is dedicated to better understanding the consequences of surviving intensive care and is intended to provide a synopsis of the current knowledge and a stimulus for future research and improved care of the critically ill.

This book brings together basic scientists or clinicians from a variety of different backgrounds - immunology, infectious diseases or critical care - who share a common interest in understanding the changes that occur in immune responses in sepsis.

Whereas a great deal has been learned during the past quarter century about the inflammatory processes associated with sepsis (and other related conditions, such as ischemia/reperfusion injury), our understanding is far less developed with respect to the pathophysiological events that lead to organ dysfunction under these conditions.

Hemodynamic monitoring is one of the major diagnostic tools available in the acute care setting to diagnose cardiovascular insufficiency and monitor changes over time in response to interventions. This book frames hemodynamic monitoring into a functional perspective.