This issue of Critical Care Clinics, guest edited by Drs. John Kellum and Dana Fuhrman, focuses on Acute Kidney Injury. This is one of four issues each year selected by the series consulting editor, Dr. John Kellum. Articles in this issue include, but are not limited to: Acute Kidney Injury and Disease, AKI in Cardiac Surgery, AKI in Sepsis, Hepatorenal Disease, Cardiorenal Syndrome, Onconephrology, Renal Functional Reserve and more.

Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) is the standard of care for management of critically ill patients with acute renal failure. Part of the Pittsburgh Critical Care series, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy provides concise, evidence-based, bedside guidance about this treatment modality, offering quick reference answers to clinicians' questions about treatments and situations encountered in daily practice. Organized into sections on theory, practice, special situations, and organizational issues, this volume provides a complete view of CRRT theory and practice. Tables summarize and highlight key points, and key studies and trials are included in each chapter. The second edition has been updated to include a new chapter on the use of biomarkers to aid in patient selection and timing, extensive revisions on terminology and nomenclature to match current standards, and the most up-to-date information on newly developed CRRT machines.

Mechanical ventilation is an essential life-sustaining therapy for many critically-ill patients. As technology has evolved, clinicians have been presented with an increasing number of ventilator options as well as an ever-expanding and confusing list of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms. Unfortunately, this has made it extremely difficult for clinicians at all levels of training to truly understand mechanical ventilation and to optimally manage patients with respiratory failure. Mechanical Ventilation was written to address these problems. This handbook provides students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians with a clear explanation of essential physiology, terms and acronyms, and ventilator modes and breath types. It describes how mechanical ventilators work and explains clearly and concisely how to write ventilator orders, how to manage patients with many different causes of respiratory failure, how to "wean" patients from the ventilator, and much more. Mechanical Ventilation is meant to be carried and used at the bedside and to allow everyone who cares for critically-ill patients to master this essential therapy.

Metabolic and electrolyte disorders can pose special challenges to physicians caring for the critically ill patients. Constrained by time and circumstances, clinicians require rapid access to information to help assess and manage these often life-threatening conditions. In this book, a readily useable road map is presented, emphasizing the interactions among problems and suggesting clear lines of action. Keeping the physiopathological mechanisms to the essential, and maintaining an uncluttered format, each chapter provides guidelines to understanding "how did we get here" and "what should we do now," as quickly and safely as possible. Chapters describe clinical presentation and management of the most common renal, electrolyte, acid-base, metabolic and endocrine disorders, complicating the course of critically ill patients.
Contributing authors are all experts in their respective fields, who regularly engage in the day-to-day management of critically ill patients. In a rapidly changing field, the authors have endeavored to maintain an updated approach, emphasizing the most recent evidence on diagnosis and management. Although controversy in the interpretation and management of some problems is inevitable, the editors see it as a desirable way to depict differing interpretations and solutions for each problem. Each chapter ends with a selected list of key references to facilitate in-depth review of each subject.
As with other titles in the Pittsburgh Critical Care Medicine series, this book is intended for frequent use by both "budding experts" as well as by seasoned practitioners in need for of quick and effective reference.

"If you have ever been confused by traditional acid-base teaching and want a deeper and practical understanding of the subject, this is the book for you! You will be rewarded." -- Acid-Base balance is pivotal in medicine and the biosciences. Almost 30 years ago, Peter A Stewart introduced his approach to acid-base which has now become the method of choice. This textbook incorporates his original publication, complemented by over 20 new chapters. These discuss recent developments in acid-base medicine using the same clear and concise style. There is extensive focus on practical clinical application of the Stewart approach. Highly recommended for everyone that seeks to understand, apply or practice acid-base medicine and physiology. This includes consultants, fellows and residents in critical care medicine, anesthesiology, internal medicine, emergency medicine and surgery; physicians in other branches of medicine; physiologists; veterinarians; bioscientists; and medical students.

In recent years, neurocritical care has grown and matured as a subspecialty of Critical Care Medicine with the advent of new monitoring, diagnostic, and therapeutic capabilities. The goal of neurocritical care is to rapidly deliver acute medical therapies and appropriate interventions through effective monitoring of both neurological and end organ function. Neurocritical Care provides 'at the bedside' guidance on the medical knowledge and technical skills required to care for critically ill patients with neurologic conditions such as cerebrovascular disorders, neurotrama, neuro-oncology, refractory seizures, neuromuscular diseases, infections, alterations in consciousness, and perioperative neurosurgical care. Part of the Pittsburgh Critical Care Medicine series, this compact volume is an ideal reference for physicians and trainees working in either a general ICU or specialty Neuro ICU unit. Readers will gain an understanding of background knowledge and concrete solutions to questions and situations encountered in daily practice.

Rapid Response System: A Practical Guide provides a practical approach to the evaluation, differential diagnosis, and management of common medical and surgical emergencies such as cardiac arrest, acute respiratory failure, seizures, and hemorrhagic shock occurring in hospitalized patients. Less common and special circumstances such as pediatric, obstetric, oncologic, neurologic and behavioral emergencies as well as palliative care for terminally ill patients encountered in the context of rapid response team events are also discussed. An overview of commonly performed bedside emergency procedures by rapid response team members complements the clinical resources that may need to be brought to bear during the course of the rapid response team event. Finally, an overview of organization, leadership, communication, quality and patient safety surrounding rapid response team events is provided. This book is written with medical students, junior physicians and nursing staff in mind working in both academic and community hospital settings. Both a novice and an experienced healthcare provider involved in a rapid response system will find this handbook to be valuable supplement to the clinical experiences gained though active engagement in the system. Hospital administrators and senior management staff will also find this book to be useful in the evaluation of quality and performance of the rapid response system, management of staff attitudes and behavior, performance of peer review, care for second victims and implementation of countermeasures for patient safety problems discovered in the course of rapid response system reviews.

Management of critically-ill trauma patients presents multiple challenges that are unique to this patient population. Optimal management of the trauma patient requires establishing priorities of care, minimizing complications, and striving to return the trauma victim to the best possible functional outcome. Yet, most books devoted to trauma focus on prehospital care, the initial assessment of trauma patients, and operative management of specific injuries. Part of the Pittsburgh Critical Care Medicine series, this book will help intensivisits involved in the care of trauma patients implement best care practices for trauma victims in the intensive care unit. Chapters address issues such as: management priorities for trauma patients in the ICU, the use of monitors and drains in trauma patients, resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock, massive transfusions and coagulopathy, ventilator management of trauma patients including patients with chest trauma, as well as management ICU strategies and solutions for specific types of trauma, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and burn management.