Michael R. Pinsky – författare

This book, part of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine textbook series, teaches readers how to use hemodynamic monitoring, an essential skill for today’s intensivists. It offers a valuable guide for beginners, as well as for experienced intensivists who want to hone their skills, helping both groups detect an inadequacy of perfusion and make the right choices to achieve the main goal of hemodynamic monitoring in the critically ill, i.e., to correctly assess the cardiovascular system and its response to tissue oxygen demands.

The book is divided into distinguished sections: from physiology to pathophysiology; clinical assessment and measurements; and clinical practice achievements including techniques, the basic goals in clinical practice as well as the more appropriate hemodynamic therapy to be applied in different conditions. All chapters use a learning-oriented style, with practical examples, key points and take home messages, helping readers quickly absorbthe content and, at the same time, apply what they have learned in the clinical setting.

The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine has developed the Lessons from the ICU series with the vision of providing focused and state-of-the-art overviews of central topics in Intensive Care and optimal resources for clinicians working in Intensive Care.

Hemodynamic monitoring is one of the major diagnostic tools available in the acute care setting to diagnose cardiovascular insufficiency and monitor changes over time in response to interventions. However, the rationale and efficacy of hemodynamic monitoring to affect outcome has come into question. We now have increasing evidence that outcome from critical illness can be improved by focused resuscitation based on existing hemodynamic monitoring, whereas non-specific aggressive resuscitation impairs survival. Thus, this book frames hemodynamic monitoring into a functional perspective wherein hemodynamic variables and physiology interact to derive performance and physiological reserve estimates that themselves drive treatment. This philosophy, as well as the limitations and applications of common and evolving hemodynamic measures and their focused use in the care of critically ill patients are discussed, relevant to one underlying truth: No monitoring device, no matter how simple or sophisticated, will improve patient-centered outcomes useless coupled to a treatment which, itself, improves outcome.

The two previous editions of Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine proved extremely successful, and the book has now been revised and split into two volumes to enhance ease of use. In this second volume some of the most renowned experts in the field offer detailed reviews on measurement techniques and physiological processes of crucial importance in intensive care medicine. Throughout, a key aim is to help overcome the fundamental unevenness in clinicians’ understanding of applied physiology, which can lead to suboptimal treatment decisions. Applied Physiology in Intensive Care has been written by some of the most renowned experts in the field and provides an up-to-date compendium of practical bedside knowledge essential to the effective delivery of acute care medicine. It will serve the clinician as an invaluable reference source on key issues regularly confronted in everyday practice.

The two previous editions of Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine proved extremely successful, and the book has now been revised and split into two volumes to enhance ease of use. This first volume comprises three elements -- "physiological notes," “technical notes,” and seminal studies. The physiological notes concisely and clearly capture the essence of the physiological perspectives underpinning our understanding of disease and response to therapy. The technical notes then succinctly explain some of the basics of “how to” in this technology-centered field of critical care medicine. Finally, a number of seminal studies are provided on diverse topics in intensive care. Applied Physiology in Intensive Care, written by some of the most renowned experts in the field, is an up-to-date compendium of practical bedside knowledge that will serve the clinician as an invaluable reference source on key issues regularly confronted in everyday practice.