Skip to Content
You are currently on the new version of our website. Access the old version .
MDPIMDPI

Advanced

MedicinaMedicina
PDF
  • Editorial
  • Open Access

3 December 2022

2 Pages

Introduction to the Special Issue—Cardiothoracic Surgical Critical Care: A Future of Distinction

and
1
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care Medicine and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
2
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Medicina2022, 58(12), 1781;https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58121781
This article belongs to the Special Issue Cardiothoracic Surgical Critical Care: A Future of Distinction
Version Notes
Order Reprints
Critical care after cardiothoracic surgery is an inseparable component of any successful surgical program addressing intrathoracic pathologies, including heart failure treatment with mechanical circulatory support, and respiratory failure requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy [1]. However, the importance of cardiothoracic surgical critical care is often omitted in conversations concerning history, present issues, or the future of intensive care medicine and cardiothoracic surgery. The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought cardiothoracic surgeons and intensivists to the forefront with heroic efforts implementing ECMO support and lung transplantation in the most severe cases [2,3]. The two-year marathon concluded with thousands of ECMO runs and hundreds of lung transplantations around the globe, resulting in incalculable benefits of lives saved. Moreover, innovations in care delivery, systems development, and network expansions happened almost overnight, with resulting structures serving communities for years to come [4,5,6]. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the unique expertise and importance of cardiothoracic surgical critical care for the local and nationwide communities.
Although successful, more work remains to be done to grow and expand the field of cardiothoracic surgical intensive care. It is our belief that the care provided in cardiothoracic surgical intensive care units (CT-ICUs) is unique and requires special considerations, including an appreciation of its history, training, current knowledge gaps, and future goals. In this Special Issue of Medicina, first, the history and evolution of critical care after cardiac surgery is described. Second, readers are invited to concentrate on the specific training and education required to provide patients with the best cardiothoracic critical care. Further analysis concentrates on the appraisal of current knowledge gaps in the field, followed by future goals and strategies. Finally, the issue concludes with a review of trailblazing therapy for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR). We hope you have a stimulating read!

Author Contributions

A.M.B. and M.K.E. wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ravi Tripathi for the divisional support.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Sherif, H.M. Cardiothoracic surgical critical care: Principles, goals and direction. Int. J. Surg. 2012, 3, 111–114. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit] [PubMed]
  2. Barbaro, R.P.; MacLaren, G.; Boonstra, P.S.; Combes, A.; Agerstrand, C.; Annich, G.; Diaz, R.; Fan, E.; Hryniewicz, K.; Lorusso, R.; et al. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for COVID-19: Evolving outcomes from the international Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry. Lancet 2021, 398, 1230–1238. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit] [PubMed]
  3. Kurihara, C.; Manerikar, A.; Querrey, M.; Felicelli, C.; Yeldandi, A.; Garza-Castillon, R., Jr.; Lung, K.; Kim, S.; Ho, B.; Tomic, R.; et al. Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients With COVID-19-Associated Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Who Underwent Lung Transplant. JAMA 2022, 327, 652–661. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit] [PubMed]
  4. Schwartz, G.S.; Blough, B.; Monday, K.; Weddle, R.; Hebert, C.; Spak, C.; Sandkovsky, U.; Gottlieb, R.L.; Hernandez, O.; Lingle, K.; et al. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for COVID-19: Lessons learned. Curr. Chall. Thorac. Surg. 2021, 3. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit]
  5. Dave, S.; Shah, A.; Galvagno, S.; George, K.; Menne, A.R.; Haase, D.J.; McCormick, B.; Rector, R.; Dahi, S.; Madathil, R.J.; et al. A Dedicated Veno-Venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Unit during a Respiratory Pandemic: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Part I: System Planning and Care Teams. Membranes 2021, 11, 258. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit] [PubMed]
  6. Brodie, D.; Abrams, D.; MacLaren, G.; Brown, C.E.; Evans, L.; Barbaro, R.P.; Calfee, C.S.; Hough, C.L.; Fowles, J.A.; Karagiannidis, C.; et al. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation during Respiratory Pandemics: Past, Present, and Future. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care. Med. 2022, 205, 1382–1390. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Scilit] [PubMed]
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Article Metrics

Citations

Article Access Statistics

Journal Statistics
Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.
Impact of Albumin Binding Function on Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Furosemide
Previous
Factors Influencing Polish Women’s Preference for the Mode of Delivery and Shared-Decision Making: Has Anything Changed over the Last Decade?
Next