Intensive care medicine

Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide or both cannot be kept at normal levels.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly known as CPR, is an emergency procedure that combines chest compression often with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest.

Rhabdomyolysis is a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle breaks down rapidly.

Septic shock is a serious medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism.

Delirium, or acute confusional state, is an organically caused decline from a previously attained baseline level of cognitive function.

Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), also known as multiple organ failure (MOF), total organ failure (TOF) or multisystem organ failure (MSOF), is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a medical condition occurring in critically ill patients characterized by widespread inflammation in the lungs.

A medical ventilator (or simply ventilator in context) is a mechanical ventilator, a machine designed to move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.

Delirium tremens (DTs) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol.

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), also known as disseminated intravascular coagulopathy or less commonly as consumptive coagulopathy, is a pathological process characterized by the widespread activation of the clotting cascade that results in the formation of blood clots in the small blood vessels throughout the body.

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a neurological scale which aims to give a reliable and objective way of recording the conscious state of a person for initial as well as subsequent assessment.

An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive treatment medicine.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection injures its own tissues and organs.

Circulatory shock, commonly known as shock, is a life-threatening medical condition of low blood perfusion to tissues resulting in cellular injury and inadequate tissue function.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space — the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain.

Infant respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS), also called neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, respiratory distress syndrome of newborn, or increasingly surfactant deficiency disorder (SDD), and previously called hyaline membrane disease (HMD), is a syndrome in premature infants caused by developmental insufficiency of pulmonary surfactant production and structural immaturity in the lungs.

Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing molecular oxygen (O2) at increased partial pressures.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain.

Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) and critical illness myopathy (CIM) are overlapping syndromes of diffuse, symmetric, flaccid muscle weakness occurring in critically ill patients and involving all extremities and the diaphragm with relative sparing of the cranial nerves.

Cardiogenic shock is a life-threatening medical condition resulting from an inadequate circulation of blood due to primary failure of the ventricles of the heart to function effectively.

Drotrecogin alfa (activated) (Xigris, marketed by Eli Lilly and Company) is a recombinant form of human activated protein C that has anti-thrombotic, anti-inflammatory, and profibrinolytic properties.

Refeeding syndrome is a syndrome consisting of metabolic disturbances that occur as a result of reinstitution of nutrition to patients who are starved, severely malnourished or metabolically stressed due to severe illness.

A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.

In medicine, the passive leg raising test is a bedside test to evaluate the need for further fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients.

Mechanical ventilation is the medical term for artificial ventilation where mechanical means is used to assist or replace spontaneous breathing.

Ventilator-associated lung injury (VALI) is an acute lung injury that develops during mechanical ventilation and is termed ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) if it can be proven that the mechanical ventilation caused the acute lung injury.

In medicine, transfusion related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a serious blood transfusion complication characterized by the acute onset of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema following transfusion of blood products.

Pulmonary aspiration is the entry of material (such as pharyngeal secretions, food or drink, or stomach contents) from the oropharynx or gastrointestinal tract into the larynx (voice box) and lower respiratory tract (the portions of the respiratory system from the trachea—i.e., windpipe—to the lungs).

Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, is a medication used to treat people with very low blood pressure.

Hypomagnesemia, also spelled hypomagnesaemia, is an electrolyte disturbance in which there is a low level of magnesium in the blood.

A catastrophic illness is a severe illness requiring prolonged hospitalization or recovery.