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The future of Intensive Care Medicine

New Content Item

This new Thematic Series focus on all aspects related to the future of Intensive Care Medicine, including but not limited to: organization, staffing, monitoring systems, new therapies, future organ support systems, ethical aspects.

Relevant papers can be submitted via the Springer Nature Article Processing Platform (Snapp) by selecting the article category “Thematic Series” and the T.S. title "The future of Intensive Care".

Please note: all submissions will be evaluated for relevance to the “The future of Intensive Care” theme and will also be subject to peer review.

Instructions to authors are available here. 

Access Thematic Series contents here

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  1. Medication waste is a contributor to the healthcare environmental footprint and impacts ecosystems. Data on medication waste in the intensive care unit (ICU) are scarce, and therefore are essential to develop ...

    Authors: Erwan d’Aranda, Stéphanie Pons, Jonathan Chelly, Enora Atchade, Laure Bonnet, Claire Dahyot-Fizelier, Toufik Kamel, Fanny Giannoni, Olivier Collange, Emmanuel Besnier, Mathieu Schoeffler, Nicolas Mayeur, Pierre-Louis Quere, Ludivine Marecal, Cyril Pernod, Cyrille Geay…
    Citation: Critical Care 2025 29:84
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Pathogen identification is essential in sepsis and septic shock. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is a novel pathogen detection method with several advantages over traditional tests. However, the ...

    Authors: Chengxi Liu, Xiao Song, Jihai Liu, Liang Zong, Tao Xu, Xu Han, Fan Li, Bo Li, Huadong Zhu and Di Shi
    Citation: Critical Care 2025 29:55
    Content type: Review Published on:

  7. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) triggers marked cytokine release often followed by a systemic inflammatory response syndrome, associated with adverse postoperative outcomes. This trial investigates the intraopera...

    Authors: Andreas Hohn, Nathalie M. Malewicz-Oeck, Dirk Buchwald, Thorsten Annecke, Peter K. Zahn and Andreas Baumann
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:406
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2025 29:16

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2025 29:1

  8. The benefit of Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy in the setting of COVID-19-related ARDS is obscure. We performed a multicenter retrospective study to evaluate the impact of iNO on patients with COVID-19 who ...

    Authors: Shahin Isha, Prasanth Balasubramanian, Abby J. Hanson, Sadhana Jonna, Lekhya Raavi, Subekshya Khadka, Ananya Vasudhar, Jorge Sinclair De Frias, Anna Jenkins, Arvind Balavenkataraman, Aysun Tekin, Vikas Bansal, Swetha Reddy, Sean M. Caples, Syed Anjum Khan, Nitesh K. Jain…
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:344
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2025 29:12

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2024 28:384

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2024 28:370

  9. The inadequacy of intensive care medicine in low-resource settings (LRS) has become significantly more visible after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations for establishing medical critical care are scarce and...

    Authors: Pedja Kovacevic, Jadranka Vidovic, Boris Tomic, Jihad Mallat, Ali Ait Hssain, Muyiwa Rotimi, Owoniya Temitope Akindele, Kent Doi, Rajesh Mishra, F. Joachim Meyer, Ivan Palibrk, Ranko Skrbic, Enrique Boloña, Oguz Kilickaya and Ognjen Gajic
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:323
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. It remains unclear how to optimise critical care rehabilitation to reduce the constellation of long-term physical, psychological and cognitive impairments known as Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS). Possible...

    Authors: Daniel Jie Lai, Zhao Liu, Elaine Johnston, Lisa Dikomitis, Teresa D’Oliveira and Sukhi Shergill
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:317
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. This narrative review provides an overview of the evolving significance of lymphopenia in sepsis, emphasizing its critical function in this complex and heterogeneous disease. We describe the causal relationshi...

    Authors: Zhibin Wang, Wenzhao Zhang, Linlin Chen, Xin Lu and Ye Tu
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:315
    Content type: Review Published on:

  12. In the high-stakes realm of critical care, where daily decisions are crucial and clear communication is paramount, comprehending the rationale behind Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven decisions appears essen...

    Authors: Gwénolé Abgrall, Andre L. Holder, Zaineb Chelly Dagdia, Karine Zeitouni and Xavier Monnet
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:301
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  13. Persistent shortcomings of invasive positive pressure ventilation make it less than an ideal intervention. Over the course of more than seven decades, clinical experience and scientific investigation have help...

    Authors: John J. Marini and Luciano Gattinoni
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:284
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  15. In mechanically ventilated patients, diaphragm ultrasound can identify diaphragm weakness and predict weaning failure. We evaluated whether a novel operator-independent ultrasound-based medical device allowing...

    Authors: Alexandre Demoule, Quentin Fossé, Alain Mercat, Daniel Bergum, Sara Virolle, Côme Bureau, Marit Mellemseter, Rafaël Guichou, Thomas Similowski, Martin Dres and Satar Mortaza
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:245
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Gut colonization with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) frequently precedes infection among patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), although the dynamics of colonization are not completely understood. We...

    Authors: Madison R. Heath, Weijia Fan, Cheng-Shiun Leu, Angela Gomez-Simmonds, Thomas Lodise and Daniel E. Freedberg
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:211
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. The effect of the periurethral cleansing range on catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) occurrence remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of expanded periurethral...

    Authors: Xingsong Qin, He Zhao, Wei Qin, Xinglei Qin, Songying Shen and Hongyu Wang
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:162
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. There is no effective treatment for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). Ilofotase alfa (human recombinant alkaline phosphatase) has been shown to exert reno-protective properties, although it remai...

    Authors: Niklas Bruse, Katerina Pardali, Maarten Kraan, Matthijs Kox and Peter Pickkers
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:50
    Content type: Brief Report Published on:

  20. Nebulisation of antibiotics is a promising treatment for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by multidrug-resistant organisms. Ensuring effective antibiotic concentrations at the site of infection in ...

    Authors: Jayesh Dhanani, Jason A. Roberts, Antoine Monsel, Antoni Torres, Marin Kollef and Jean-Jacques Rouby
    Citation: Critical Care 2024 28:49
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  21. Authors: Johannes Grand, Christian Hassager, Jesper Kjaergaard and Jacob E. Møller
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:492
    Content type: Matters Arising Published on:

    The original article was published in Critical Care 2023 27:410

    The original article was published in Critical Care 2023 27:451

  22. Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening syndrome caused by an unbalanced host response to infection. The role of interleukin (IL)-36 cytokines binding to the IL-36 receptor (IL-36R) in host response during sep...

    Authors: Huachen Wang, Meixiang Wang, Junlan Chen, Hongda Hou, Zheng Guo, Hong Yang, Hua Tang and Bing Chen
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:490
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. There is limited evidence to guide interventions that promote cost-effectiveness in adult intensive care units (ICU). The aim of this consensus statement is to identify globally applicable interventions for be...

    Authors: Amit Kansal, Jos M. Latour, Kay Choong See, Sumeet Rai, Maurizio Cecconi, Carl Britto, Andrew Conway Morris, Raymond Dominic Savio, Vinay M. Nadkarni, B. K. Rao and Rajesh Mishra
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:487
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Critical Care 2024 28:121

  28. The effects of awake prone position on the breathing pattern of hypoxemic patients need to be better understood. We conducted a crossover trial to assess the physiological effects of awake prone position in pa...

    Authors: Domenico Luca Grieco, Luca Delle Cese, Luca S. Menga, Tommaso Rosà, Teresa Michi, Gianmarco Lombardi, Melania Cesarano, Valentina Giammatteo, Giuseppe Bello, Simone Carelli, Salvatore L. Cutuli, Claudio Sandroni, Gennaro De Pascale, Antonio Pesenti, Salvatore M. Maggiore and Massimo Antonelli
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:315
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several centers had independently reported extending prone positioning beyond 24 h. Most of these centers reported maintaining patients in prone position until significant clinica...

    Authors: Thaïs Walter and Jean-Damien Ricard
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:264
    Content type: Review Published on:

  31. Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) is associated with high morbidity, with no current therapies available beyond continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Systemic inflammation and endothelial d...

    Authors: Mihir R. Atreya, Natalie Z. Cvijanovich, Julie C. Fitzgerald, Scott L. Weiss, Michael T. Bigham, Parag N. Jain, Adam J. Schwarz, Riad Lutfi, Jeffrey Nowak, Geoffrey L. Allen, Neal J. Thomas, Jocelyn R. Grunwell, Torrey Baines, Michael Quasney, Bereketeab Haileselassie, Matthew N. Alder…
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:260
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Specialized diets enriched with immune nutrients could be an important supplement in patients (pts) with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). Omega-3 and arginine may interact with immune response and microbiot...

    Authors: A. Cotoia, R. Paradiso, G. Ferrara, G. Borriello, F. Santoro, I. Spina, L. Mirabella, K. Mariano, G. Fusco, G. Cinnella and P. Singer
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:244
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Animal models of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) do not completely resemble human ARDS, struggling translational research. We aimed to characterize a porcine model of ARDS induced by pneumonia—the m...

    Authors: Enric Barbeta, Marta Arrieta, Ana Motos, Joaquim Bobi, Hua Yang, Minlan Yang, Giacomo Tanzella, Pierluigi Di Ginnatale, Stefano Nogas, Carmen Rosa Vargas, Roberto Cabrera, Denise Battaglini, Andrea Meli, Kasra Kiarostami, Nil Vázquez, Laia Fernández-Barat…
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:239
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  34. Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is an important cause of post-operative morbidity and mortality for children undergoing cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Dysregulated inflammat...

    Authors: Alexis L. Benscoter, Jeffrey A. Alten, Mihir R. Atreya, David S. Cooper, Jonathan W. Byrnes, David P. Nelson, Nicholas J. Ollberding and Hector R. Wong
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:193
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. The goal of hemodynamic resuscitation is to optimize the microcirculation of organs to meet their oxygen and metabolic needs. Clinicians are currently blind to what is happening in the microcirculation of orga...

    Authors: J. Duranteau, D. De Backer, K. Donadello, N. I. Shapiro, S. D. Hutchings, A. Rovas, M. Legrand, A. Harrois and C. Ince
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:190
    Content type: Review Published on:

    The Matters Arising to this article has been published in Critical Care 2023 27:352

  38. Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, termed eCPR, offers the prospect of improving survival with good neurological function after cardiac arrest. After death, ECM...

    Authors: Tamar Schiff, Christian Koziatek, Erin Pomerantz, Nichole Bosson, Robert Montgomery, Brendan Parent and Stephen P. Wall
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:144
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  39. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred neuroimaging technique in pediatric patients. However, in neonates and instable pediatric patients accessibility to MRI is often not feasible due to instabilit...

    Authors: Hemmen Sabir, Florian Kipfmueller, Soyhan Bagci, Till Dresbach, Tamara Grass, Patrizia Nitsch-Felsecker, Christos Pantazis, Joachim Schmitt, Lukas Schroeder and Andreas Mueller
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:134
    Content type: Brief Report Published on:

  40. Sepsis involves the dynamic interplay between a pathogen, the host response, the failure of organ systems, medical interventions and a myriad of other factors. This together results in a complex, dynamic and d...

    Authors: Alex R. Schuurman, Peter M. A. Sloot, W. Joost Wiersinga and Tom van der Poll
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:102
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  41. This paper discusses the use of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot in scientific writing. ChatGPT is a type of chatbot, developed by OpenAI, that uses the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) language model t...

    Authors: Michele Salvagno, Fabio Silvio Taccone and Alberto Giovanni Gerli
    Citation: Critical Care 2023 27:75
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Critical Care 2023 27:99

    The Correspondence to this article has been published in Critical Care 2023 27:180

    The Comment to this article has been published in Critical Care 2023 27:148

    The Correspondence to this article has been published in Critical Care 2023 27:120

  43. Critically ill patients undergo early impairment of their gut microbiota (GM) due to routine antibiotic therapies and other environmental factors leading to intestinal dysbiosis. The GM establishes connections...

    Authors: Alberto Corriero, Raffaella Maria Gadaleta, Filomena Puntillo, Francesco Inchingolo, Antonio Moschetta and Nicola Brienza
    Citation: Critical Care 2022 26:379
    Content type: Review Published on:

  44. Since the advent of critical care in the twentieth century, the core elements that are the foundation for critical care systems, namely to care for critically ill and injured patients and to save lives, have e...

    Authors: Annette M. Esper, Yaseen M. Arabi, Maurizio Cecconi, Bin Du, Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Nicole Juffermans, Flavia Machado, Sandra Peake, Jason Phua, Kathryn Rowan, Gee Young Suh and Greg S. Martin
    Citation: Critical Care 2022 26:366
    Content type: Perspective Published on:

  49. Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System (MARS®) is a non-biological artificial liver device. The benefit risk ratio between uncertain clinical effects and potential adverse events remains difficult to assess....

    Authors: Clément Monet, Audrey De Jong, Yassir Aarab, Lauranne Piron, Albert Prades, Julie Carr, Fouad Belafia, Gérald Chanques, Boris Guiu, Georges-Philippe Pageaux and Samir Jaber
    Citation: Critical Care 2022 26:282
    Content type: Research Published on:

  50. To compare the safety and effects of unrestricted visiting policies (UVPs) and restricted visiting policies (RVPs) in intensive care units (ICUs) with respect to outcomes related to delirium, infection, and mo...

    Authors: Yuchen Wu, Guoqiang Wang, Zhigang Zhang, Luo Fan, Fangli Ma, Weigang Yue, Bin Li and Jinhui Tian
    Citation: Critical Care 2022 26:267
    Content type: Review Published on: