ESICM Talk
Episodes
Healthcare crisis: can innovation be the answer?
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Can innovation really transform the future of intensive care?Join the first episode of the ESICM podcast series, The Future of Intensive Care. Prof. M...
Redefining Precision Nutrition: Where Science Meets the patientโs bedside
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the educational podcast, we explore what precision nutrition truly means in intensive care. While the concept is widely discussed i...
Why does renal recovery from AKI matter to us intensivists?
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a frequent complication in critically ill patients and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, t...
Kids visitations in the ICU. Ten recommendations for child-friendly visiting policies in critical care
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Covert Consciousness
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prehabilitation in the ICU
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that preparing patients before an ICU stay can lead to better recovery after? Prehabilitation programmes focus on strengthening physical,...
Post ICU outcomes and follow up
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) refers to the prolonged impairment of physical, cognitive, and mental health that can occur after an intensive car...
Dose Optimisation in the ICU: The Role of TDM and Model-Based Solutions
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A randomised controlled trial of a nurse facilitator to promote communication for family members of critically ill patients
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) can be a challenging experience for patients and their families. Psychological burdens, including symptoms ...
European Society of Intensive Care Medicine guidelines on end of life and palliative care in the intensive care unit
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The latest guidelines released from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) are about end-of-life (EOL) and palliative care for critic...
Fluid management and mechanical ventilation strategies
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mechanical ventilation (MV) can impair gas exchange, destabilise hemodynamics, and injure endothelial cells. Intravenous (IV) fluid therapy helps to r...
When and how vasopressors in Sepsis?
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The early initiation of vasopressors, ideally within the first hour of diagnosing septic shock, is emerging as a preferred strategy. This approach off...
Respiratory support in acute exacerbation in COPD
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) represent sudden and severe declines in airway function and respiratory symptoms...
Multimodal approach to vascular failure in Sepsis
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Septic shock triggers a dangerous drop in blood pressure and restricts blood flow to vital organs, making rapid intervention essential to prevent orga...
Landiolol and Organ Failure in Patients With Septic Shock: The STRESS-L Randomized Clinical Trial
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Autonomic dysfunction and tachycardia are strongly linked to poor outcomes in septic shock, contributing to high mortality rates. In the upcoming podc...
Updates on the contemporary management of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a rare but devastating condition, marked by high global rates of fatality and long-term disability. Key f...
Esophageal pressure: use in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Esophageal pressure measurement plays a crucial role in estimating transpulmonary pressure, with both its absolute values and variations being key fac...
Inspiratory muscle training
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) aims to enhance the strength and endurance of respiratory muscles. Numerous clinical trials have explored the effect...
TTP Centenary by Takeda
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ARDS Phenotyping: from disease understanding to future bedside perspectives
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To date, no specific pharmacotherapy has proven effective against acute respiratory distress syndrome ARDS. Results on the research domain have been i...
Mechanical circulatory support for cardiogenic shock: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and propensity score-matched studies
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cardiogenic shock accounts for up to 5% of acute heart failure presentations and around 14โ16% of patients reported in cardiac intensive care datase...
N&AHP โ ICU diaries
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The communication between families of critically ill patients who manifest prolonged disturbances in the consciousness such as patients under sedation...
Burned out in ICU professionals
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Professional burnout has been described by WHO as a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully ...
Inflammatory subphenotypes in patients at risk of ARDS: evidence from the LIPS-A trial
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remains a life-threatening syndrome, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. In ARDS patients and mechan...
Brain ultrasound for the general intensivist
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cerebral ultrasound is a developing point-of-care tool for intensivists and emergency physicians, with an important role in diagnosing acute intracran...
Phenotyping and endotyping patients to optimally set nutrition targets
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nutrition plays a vital role in the management of critically ill patients, and a tailored approach based on patient assessment, nutritional requiremen...
Uncovering heterogeneity in sepsis: a comparative analysis of subphenotypes
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to an infection. Despite progress in the understanding of sepsis...
ECMO PAL: using deep neural networks for survival prediction in venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
VA-ECMO outcome scores have been previously developed and used extensively for risk adjustment, patient prognostication, and quality control across ti...
Towards model-informed precision dosing of piperacillin: multicenter systematic external evaluation of pharmacokinetic models in critically ill adults with a focus on Bayesian forecasting
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Numerous Population Pharmacokinetic (PopPK) models have been developed for Piperacillin (PIP), most of which are based on small monocentric studies an...
Green ICU - Environmental Sustainability in intensive care
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The concept of a "green ICU" is increasingly important in today's world, as sustainability and environmental considerations become integral to healthc...
Diving into ARDS with Prof. Gattinoni. From the new guidelines to bedside applied physiology.
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is the term applied to a spectrum of conditions with different etiologies that share common clinical-pathol...
Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury in the intensive care unit. A multicenter observational study
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsisโassociated acute kidney injury (SAโAKI) is a common, increasingly prevalent problem in the intensive care unit (ICU). The association betwe...
Patient Transportation in Critical Care: introduction to our ACE course
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Transportation of critically ill patients is inevitable in most health systems. Prehospital transportation (PHT) may be necessary after a major injury...
Interprofessional teamwork in ICU
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Intensive care units (ICU) are the most peculiar units in hospitals where the quality and safety of health care delivery should be at the highest leve...
Artesunate treatment in severely injured patients with traumatic haemorrhage
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is common after major trauma, affecting up to two-thirds of patients with critical injuries. Post-trauma MO...
Life after sepsis in adult and paediatric patients
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsis is a life-threatening acute organ dysfunction secondary to infection and affects more than 19 million people annually. In 2017, it was estimate...
Severe meningoencephalitis in the ICU: results from the EURECA study
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Central nervous system (CNS) infections significantly burden ICU physicians' daily clinical work. Diagnosis can be challenging, and timely management ...
Diabetes mellitus in old critically ill COVID-19 patients
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Several studies have found an association between diabetes mellitus, disease severity and outcome in COVID-19 patients. Old, critically ill patients a...
Results from the TAME trial
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
International guidelines recommend targeting normocapnia in adults with coma resuscitated after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, normocapnia m...
Guidelines for the management of severe community-acquired pneumonia
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Severe communityโacquired pneumonia (sCAP) is a clinical entity to describe ICU-admitted patients with communityโacquired pneumonia (CAP) as they ...
Permissive azotemia during AKI enables more rapid renal recovery and less renal fibrosis
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Preclinical models of acute kidney injury (AKI) consistently demonstrate that a uremic milieu enhances renal recovery and decreases kidney ๏ฌbrosis. ...
How to manage coagulopathies in critically ill patients
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Coagulopathy is a severe and frequent complication in critically ill patients, for which the pathogenesis and presentation may be variable depending o...
End of Life Care concepts in intensive care
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
End-of-life care is an approach to a terminally ill patient that shifts the focus of care to symptom control, comfort, dignity, quality of life, and q...
Machine-learning-derived sepsis bundle of care
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) produces and regularly updates guidelines for managing patients with sepsis and septic shock. However, deviation f...
How to use biomarkers of infection or sepsis at the bedside
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. In this context, biomarkers could be considered in...
MIPD of beta-lactam antibiotics and ciprofloxacin in critically ill patients
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Individualising drug dosing using model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) of beta-lactam antibiotics and ciprofloxacin has been proposed as an alternat...
Management of severe bronchiolitis in infants <12 months old admitted to paediatric ICU
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bronchiolitis is a common lung infection in young children and infants. Approximately one-tenth of the affected children are admitted, and between 2 a...
Clustering analysis of geriatric and acute characteristics in very old patients on ICU admission
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The outcome of very old patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) is determined by both the severity of the acute condition and the age-relat...
My evidence-based nutrition protocol
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nutrition is an essential care we provide to critically ill patients aiming to avoid severe muscle wasting and weakness, which correlate with mortalit...
Management and outcomes of pregnant women with COVID-19
12 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pregnant women with COVID-19 are more likely to be admitted to the ICU and require invasive mechanical ventilation or venovenous extracorporeal membra...
Evolution of sedation management in the ICU
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Intensive care unit (ICU) sedation practices have dramatically changed over the last 20 years. Nowadays, they include light levels of sedation, SAT, a...
When to initiate RRT?
07 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Acute kidney injury is common in critically ill patients, and 10-15% of ICU patients receive renal replacement therapy (RRT). The timing of therapy in...
Frailty and the COVIP study
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last few years, the assessment of frailty at admission to the ICU has become increasingly popular. Frailty is also considered one of the pote...
Clinical course of children with acute liver failure admitted to the ICU
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A recent outbreak of acute non-A-E hepatitis with serum transaminases greater than 500 IU/L identified in children under 16 years reported in the Unit...
Echocardiography findings in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The ECHO-COVID study investigated the effects on cardiac function in critically ill COVID -19 patients. The primary aim of this study was to investiga...
Results from the UNITE-COVID study
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), initiated a study to describe the extent of the COVID-19 ICU surge worldwide and the clinical...
Bullets in haemodynamics
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The haemodynamic instability most patients present in the ICU may lead to organ dysfunction, deterioration into multi-organ failure, and eventually de...
The brain in paediatric critical care
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The practice of neurocritical care for children with injured or vulnerable brains entails clinical assessment, a range of monitoring methods within th...
The role of acute hypercapnia on mortality and short-term physiology in patients mechanically ventilated for ARDS
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Recent evidence suggests that acute hypercapnia could have harmful physiological and clinical effects in patients with ARDS, particularly impacting th...
Sepsis hospitalisation and risk of subsequent cardiovascular events in adults
13 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsis refers to a dysregulated response to infection-causing end-organ dysfunction. It is associated with short-term risks such as shock and in-hospi...
Prophylactic melatonin for delirium in intensive care (Pro-MEDIC)
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Delirium is a condition of acute organic brain dysfunction with fluctuating disturbances of attention and cognition, and its prevalence in intensive c...
Role of pre-clinical experimentation in intensive care: from ethical to clinical practice
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Preclinical studies precede most clinical trials. They help identify criteria for evaluating human safety, including signs and symptoms that should be...
Mental health symptoms in family members of COVID-19 ICU survivors
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The prevalence of long-term mental health symptoms in the family members of COVID-19 ICU survivors is unknown and may differ from the prevalence rate ...
ERC-ESICM guidelines on temperature control after cardiac arrest in adults
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The aim of the ERC-ESICM guidelines on temperature control after cardiac arrest in adults is to provide evidence-based guidance in adults who are coma...
Effect of therapeutic drug monitoring-based dose optimisation of piperacillin/tazobactam in sepsis patients
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Growing evidence suggests that insufficient antibiotic exposure (defined as failure to achieve the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) target to k...
Current practice and evolving concepts in septic shock resuscitation
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Clinical and pathophysiological understanding of septic shock has progressed exponentially in the previous decades, translating into a steady decrease...
Non-invasive respiratory support following extubation in critically ill adults
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Clinicians use noninvasive respiratory support interventions in the post-extubation period to mitigate the risk of extubation failure. These intervent...
Challenges of renal transplant patients in intensive care
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kidney transplantation is the most common solid organ transplant performed worldwide. New advances in transplant medicine have expanded the indication...
Practicalities of Neuromonitoring
21 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Neuromonitoring is considered a crucial and fundamental process to monitor patients in critical care settings. In this podcast, ESICM NEXT member Deni...
Dexamethasone 12 mg versus 6 mg for patients with COVID-19 and severe hypoxaemia
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Systemic corticosteroids decrease mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19, and the World Health Organization, therefore, recommends dexamet...
Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adults: evidence and implications
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Attempts at improving cardiac arrest outcomes have increasingly included extracorporeal techniques to re-establish circulation. In particular, the app...
Effect of adjunctive vitamin C, glucocorticoids, and vitamin B1 on longer-term mortality in adults with sepsis or septic shock
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Metabolic resuscitation is an adjunctive therapy for sepsis and septic shock, which consists of a combination of vitamin C, glucocorticoids, and vitam...
Palliative care interventions in intensive care unit patients
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Integrating palliative care in critical care is advocated as a way to mitigate physical and psychological burdens for patients and their families and ...
Transfusion strategies in bleeding critically ill adults
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Given the rapidity with which critically ill patients with bleeding can deteriorate, having a standardised approach to transfusion in these patients c...
ESICM consensus guidelines on basic ultrasound head-to-toe skills for intensivists
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ultrasonography is an evolving skill in critically ill patients. We provide a large number of statements regarding the required ultrasonographic basic...
Critical illness in patients with hematologic malignancy
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Critical illness occurs frequently after a new diagnosis of hematologic malignancy and has high associated mortality. Baseline characteristics at diag...
Critically ill cancer patientโs resuscitation
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We report the results of a consensus conference based on a systematic review of the literature and experts opinions assessing the management of cancer...
TTM following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this network meta-analysis, as compared to normothermia (37โ37.8 ยฐC), we found that deep hypothermia (31โ32 ยฐC), moderate hypothermia (33โ3...
SSC: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The updated version of the guidelines will be presented during the ESICM LIVES virtual conference, LIVES 2021. The evidence-based guidelines...
Management of arterial PaCO2 in the first week after TBI
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The manipulation of arterial carbon dioxide levels (PaCO2) is easy, and hyperventilation (HV) has been a common ICP-lowering strategy for over half a ...
Association between Sepsis Survivorship and Long-Term Cardiovascular Outcomes in Adults
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sepsis is associated with an increased long-term risk of cardiovascular events, which is observed for at least 5 years after the index admission. This...
Implementation of new ECMO centers during the COVID-19 pandemic
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this multicenter international cohort in 19 ECMO centres from five countries in the Middle East and India, 307 critically ill COVID-19 patients rec...
Caring for COVID-19 patients and their relatives with the ICU diary
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For family members of survivors, the ICU diary is an important source of medical information, provides a way for them to register their presence at th...
ICP monitoring in patients with acute brain injury in ICU (Synapse-ICU)
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Intracranial pressure monitoring in patients with acute brain injury in the intensive care unit (Synapse-ICU): an international, prospective observati...
Evolving changes in mortality of critical COVID-19
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Evolving changes in mortality of 13,301 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 over 8 months.Age, frailty and adjusted mortality of critically il...
What happened to mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients in the UK?
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Natural history, trajectory, and management of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients in the United Kingdom.In a cohort of COVID-19 patients treate...
Effect of the use of an endotracheal tube and stylet versus an endotracheal tube alone on first-attempt intubation success
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this randomized clinical trial that included 999 patients, the use of a stylet for tracheal intubation in critically ill adult patients resulted in...
Ethical Issues in the ICU
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We are confronted daily with complex ethical issues during the care of our patients in intensive care units. The principles of biomedical ethics may g...
RCT of oxygen therapy and HFNT in African children with pneumonia
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Africa, in children hospitalised with severe pneumonia with oxygen saturations between 80 and 91% who did not receive oxygen, mortality assessed at...
Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative. This International Collabor...
Haemodynamics, vasopressors, monitors โ a chat with Thinking Critical Care
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Following on from the recent ESICM webinars on haemodynamic monitoring and vasopressors, Dr Wong interviews Dr Rola on his thoughts on a range of...
Ultrasound as a haemodynamic monitor?
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ultrasound has become an indispensable tool while caring for critically ill patients. Increasing availability at bedside and the role that it plays in...
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury - Next Podcast #1
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in young adults, where 50% of survivors cannot live in...