Empagliflozin in acute myocardial infarction: the EMMY trial.

Aims: Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibition reduces the risk of hospitalization for heart failure and for death in patients with symptomatic heart failure. However, trials investigating the effects of this drug class in patients following acute myocardial infarction are lacking.

Methods And Results: In this academic, multicentre, double-blind trial, patients (n = 476) with acute myocardial infarction accompanied by a large creatine kinase elevation (>800 IU/L) were randomly assigned to empagliflozin 10 mg or matching placebo once daily within 72 h of percutaneous coronary intervention.

[Systemic consequences and clinical aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection].

Background: COVID-19 is considered a systemic disease. A severe course with fatal outcome is possible and unpredictable.

Objectives: Which organ systems are predominantly involved? Which diseases are predisposed for a fatal course? Which organ changes are found with lethal outcome?

Materials And Methods: Data from published autopsy studies (28 cases by our group) with respect to organ changes and possible cause of death.

B-Lines for the assessment of extravascular lung water: Just focused or semi-quantitative?

Background: B-lines as typical artefacts of lung ultrasound are considered as surrogate measurement for extravascular lung water. However, B-lines develop in the sub-pleural space and do not allow assessment of the whole lung. Here, we present data from the first observational multi-centre study focusing on the correlation between a B-lines score and extravascular lung water in critically ill patients suffering from a variety of diseases.

Impact of EMpagliflozin on cardiac function and biomarkers of heart failure in patients with acute MYocardial infarction-The EMMY trial.

Background: Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are established antidiabetic drugs with proven cardiovascular benefit. Although growing evidence suggests beneficial effects on myocardial remodeling, fluid balance and cardiac function, the impact of empagliflozin initiated early after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not been investigated yet. Therefore, the impact of EMpagliflozin on cardiac function and biomarkers of heart failure in patients with acute MYocardial infarction (EMMY) trial was designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of empagliflozin in diabetic and non-diabetic patients after severe AMI.

Does the integration of personalized ultrasound change patient management in critical care medicine? Observational trials.

Objective. To test the influence of personalized ultrasound (PersUS) on patient management in critical care. Design of the Study.

Cardiac movement identified on prehospital echocardiography predicts outcome in cardiac arrest patients.

Introduction: The prognostic value of emergency echocardiography (EE) in the management of cardiac arrest patients has previously been studied in an in-hospital setting. These studies mainly included patients who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by emergency medicine technicians at the scene and who arrived at the emergency department (ED) still in a state of cardiac arrest. In most European countries, cardiac arrest patients are normally treated by physician-staffed emergency medical services (EMS) teams on scene.

[Thoracoabdominal sonography (E-FAST plus) -AI training module 5 in anaesthesiologist: performed focussed sonography].

Anesthesiologists and Critical Care Physicians are confronted with the differential diagnoses of dyspnea, complications of mechanical ventilation or rapid assessment of trauma patients on a nearly daily basis. This requires the timely diagnosis or exclusion of a wide variety of disease processes including pleura effusion, pneumonia, pneumothorax as well as thoracical or abdominal bleeding. Furthermore, the anaesthesiologist or intensivist often makes decisions leading to invasive procedures like thoracentesis or percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound detects gallbladder perforation in a patient with acute abdominal pain.

We present the case of a patient with abdominal pain, in which gallbladder perforation was detected by contrast-enhanced ultrasound. A 90-year-old patient presented to the emergency department with a complaint of acute abdominal pain and vomiting. An abdominal ultrasound revealed a thickened gallbladder wall and small amounts of perihepatic fluid.

Prehospital lung ultrasound in the distinction between pulmonary edema and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We present 2 cases of dyspneic patients, where prehospital lung ultrasound helped to distinguish between pulmonary edema and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.