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Cardiac Intensive Care: Clinical Insights and Advances

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Intensive Care".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 716

Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy
Interests: cardiac anesthesia; anesthetic pharmacology; intensive care; cardiopulmonary bypass; mechanical circulatory support; palliative care; end of life; cardiothoracic anesthesia; thoracic anesthesia; vascular anesthesia; minimal invasive extracorporeal circula

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Guest Editor
Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine Division, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Viale Gramsci 14, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: artificial intelligence; cardiac anesthesia; critical care; deep learning; machine learning; perioperative medicine; precision medicine; postanesthesia care
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine Division, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: artificial intelligence; big data; critical care; deep learning; machine learning; perioperative medicine; precision medicine; telemedicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) has evolved into a highly specialized environment dedicated to caring for patients with increasingly complex cardiovascular disease, often complicated by multi-organ dysfunction, advanced therapies, and high illness acuity. Despite major advances in interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, and critical care, morbidity and mortality remain substantial, highlighting persistent gaps in risk stratification, hemodynamic management, organ support, and long-term outcomes.

This Special Issue, “Cardiac Intensive Care: Clinical Insights and Advances”, aims to showcase contemporary research that addresses these core challenges and advances the science and practice of cardiac critical care. We invite contributions spanning acute coronary syndromes, cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest, mechanical circulatory support, perioperative and postcardiotomy care, advanced hemodynamic monitoring, and multidisciplinary models of CICU care. Particular emphasis will be placed on clinical studies focused on improving patient-centered outcomes, optimizing rehabilitation pathways, addressing quality-of-life challenges, and integrating palliative and end-of-life care principles across the continuum of cardiac intensive care. Moreover, recognizing the rapid digital transformation of medicine, we also welcome work exploring the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the CICU, including their applications in prediction, decision support, phenotyping, and personalized therapy.

We welcome submissions of high-quality scholarly work, including (but not limited to) original research, narrative reviews, scoping reviews, state-of-the-art reviews, and innovative clinical insights that will stimulate discussion, inform practice, and shape future directions in cardiac intensive care.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Jacopo D’Andria Ursoleo
Prof. Dr. Elena G. Bignami
Dr. Valentina Bellini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • acute heart failure
  • artificial intelligence
  • cardiac intensive care
  • cardiogenic shock
  • cardiac surgery
  • extracorporeal life support
  • hemodynamic monitoring
  • machine learning
  • mechanical circulatory support
  • outcomes and prognostication
  • palliative care
  • postcardiotomy care
  • precision medicine
  • resuscitation science
  • shock management
  • ventricular assist devices

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1208 KB  
Article
Prognostic Value of Maximal and Mean Lactate-to-Albumin (LAR), C-Reactive Protein-to-Albumin (CAR), and Procalcitonin-to-Albumin (PAR) Ratios Beyond ICU Admission in Critically Ill Patients
by Krzysztof Żerdziński, Michał Gałuszewski, Julita Janiec, Michał Skrzypek and Łukasz J. Krzych
J. Clin. Med. 2026, 15(12), 4698; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15124698 - 17 Jun 2026
Viewed by 285
Abstract
Background: This study evaluates whether maximal and mean lactate-to-albumin (LAR), C-reactive protein-to-albumin (CAR), and procalcitonin-to-albumin (PAR) ratios during ICU stay improve mortality prediction beyond admission values in critically ill, cardiovascularly burdened patients, and compares their performance against individual biomarkers. Methods: We conducted a [...] Read more.
Background: This study evaluates whether maximal and mean lactate-to-albumin (LAR), C-reactive protein-to-albumin (CAR), and procalcitonin-to-albumin (PAR) ratios during ICU stay improve mortality prediction beyond admission values in critically ill, cardiovascularly burdened patients, and compares their performance against individual biomarkers. Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study of consecutive adult ICU admissions (2024) in a tertiary cardiac center, using temporally aligned (±12 h) albumin-based ratios derived from serial laboratory measurements. Maximal and mean in-ICU values were analysed per admission. The primary endpoint was ICU mortality. Associations and discriminative performance were evaluated using ROC analysis and multivariable logistic regression. Results: Of 212 screened ICU admissions, 137 patients were included. The ICU mortality was 48.9%. Both maximum and mean values of biomarkers and composite ratios were more abnormal in non-survivors, with the strongest independent associations observed for maximum LAR and CAR. In adjusted analyses, maximum LAR and CAR remained independently associated with ICU mortality and showed moderate discrimination (AUC 0.704 and 0.712). Mean CAR and LAR performed numerically slightly better in ROC analysis, whereas PAR showed weaker and less consistent prognostic utility. Conclusions: Maximal and mean LAR and CAR were independently associated with ICU mortality, whereas PAR showed weaker performance. These ratios may serve as simple tools for dynamic risk stratification but require prospective multicenter validation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cardiac Intensive Care: Clinical Insights and Advances)
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