Intensive Care Medicine: Current Concepts and Future Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, titled “Intensive Care Medicine: Current Concepts and Future Perspectives”, aims to explore contemporary advances and future directions in the multidisciplinary field of intensive care medicine. Critically ill patients often face complex physiological, metabolic, and functional challenges that require integrated and evidence-based approaches for optimal outcomes. This issue seeks to highlight novel strategies, technologies, and clinical frameworks that improve survival, recovery, and long-term quality of life after critical illness.

Recent progress in early rehabilitation, mechanical ventilation management, sepsis care, extracorporeal therapies, and artificial intelligence-driven monitoring has transformed the landscape of critical care. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated innovation in tele-intensive care, interprofessional collaboration, and data-driven decision-making. By bringing together international perspectives from clinicians, researchers, and educators, this Special Issue aims to clarify best practices and illuminate pathways for personalized and sustainable critical care delivery.

We welcome original research, reviews, clinical trials, and case-based studies focusing on intensive care physiology, treatment protocols, rehabilitation, and outcome prediction.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Early mobilization and rehabilitation in the ICU;
• Sepsis and organ dysfunction management;
• Mechanical ventilation and weaning strategies;
• Nutritional and metabolic support in critical illness;
• Long-term outcomes and post-intensive care syndrome (PICS);
• Technological innovations: AI, machine learning, and digital health in ICU.

By integrating current concepts with emerging evidence, this Special Issue aims to contribute to the evolution of intensive care medicine and inspire the next generation of clinical and research innovations.

Dr. Shinichi Watanabe
Guest Editor

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