Critical Care Evidence Updates – February 2026

Randomised Controlled Trials

A pilot, parallel-group, blinded, placebo-controlled, randomiseD, pRagmatic clinical trial investigating the Effect of temazepAM on objective and subjective measures of sleep in critically ill patients (the DREAM trial)  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Albumin Replacement Therapy in Septic Shock – A Randomized Clinical Trial  JAMA Network Open

Cerebral oximetry-guided anaesthesia and postoperative delirium in elderly patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: a randomized controlled trial  BMC Geriatrics

Early mobilization with or without cycloergometry in patients with septic shock in Intensive Care Unit: a randomized controlled trial  Annals of Intensive Care

Effect of Neostigmine on Attenuation of Proinflammatory Cytokines When Given as an Adjuvant Therapy in Septic Shock: A Randomized Control Trial  Critical Care Medicine

Evaluating hands-free carotid Doppler ultrasound for real-time return of spontaneous circulation detection in in-hospital cardiac arrest: a multicenter randomized controlled study  Resuscitation

External validation of the feeding intolerance prediction model (NOFI) in critically ill patients: A post hoc analysis of a large-scale randomized controlled trial  Journal of Intensive Medicine

Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy Monitoring During Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial. The FIBERTRACH Randomized Clinical Trial  Critical Care Medicine

Increasing protein dose does not further augment muscle protein synthesis in critical illness: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Individualized Perioperative Blood Pressure and Fluid Therapy in Esophagectomy: A Prospective, Single-blind Randomized Controlled Trial  Anesthesiology

Medical thoracoscopy with talc poudrage and indwelling pleural catheter insertion versus medical thoracoscopy with talc poudrage alone for patients with symptomatic malignant pleural effusion (TACTIC): a randomised, controlled phase 3 trial  The Lancet Respiratory Medicine

On-scene selective brain cooling in ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest: pilot results from the PRINCESS2 randomised trial  Critical Care

The comparison of circuit lifespan between integration and separation approach in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy support: a randomized controlled trial (E-CRRT Trial)  Intensive Care Medicine

NICE

Blood transfusion NG24

Other Guidance/Reports

2026 AHA/ACC/ACCP/ACEP/CHEST/SCAI/SHM/SIR/SVM/SVN Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Acute Pulmonary Embolism in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines  Circulation

Consensus document on electroencephalography education in anaesthesiology: defining learning outcomes – A modified four-round Delphi study  European Journal of Anaesthesiology

Consensus on identifying and ranking ventilator asynchronies in invasively ventilated ICU patients: a modified Delphi study (SYNAPsE)  Intensive Care Medicine

CVIT expert consensus document on primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in 2026  Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics

Expert recommendations for setting and adjusting airway pressure release ventilation based on clinical experience and basic science evidence  Frontiers in Medicine

Peri-operative fasting in adults: an international, multidisciplinary consensus statement  Anaesthesia

Recommendations for Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis in Critically Ill Adults: A Contextualized Clinical Practice Guideline From the Saudi Critical Care Society and the Scandinavian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Endorsed by the Kuwait Anesthesia and Critical Care Society  Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica

Recommendations in Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Post Resuscitation Care Via An International, Modified Delphi Approach  Journal of the American Heart Association

Sample size requirements and intra-cluster correlations for stepped wedge cluster randomised trials in intensive care medicine: A practical guide  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Primary Research

Admission predictors of post-intensive care syndrome family among caregivers of ICU survivors: A secondary analysis  Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

Anaesthetic mumps associated with laryngeal mask airway use — a case report  Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Association between antithrombin levels and prognosis in patients with sepsis: a retrospective cohort study based on the MIMIC-IV and MIMIC-III databases  Journal of Intensive Care

Association between barriers of resuscitation and chest compression quality metrics during in-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation attempts  Resuscitation

Association Between Hospital-Level Volume of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation and Complications: A Clustered, Mixed-Effect Analysis of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry  Critical Care Medicine

Association Between Positive End-Expiratory Pressure at Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Initiation and Liberation Outcomes in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Multicenter Retrospective Study  Critical Care Explorations

Association between the clinical status of patients admitted to Intensive Care and the emotional state of their next of kin: a cross-sectional study  Journal of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Critical Care

Association of propofol vs. sevoflurane maintenance anesthesia with postoperative delirium, cognitive decline, and mortality in older adults: a global comparative-effectiveness study  Critical Care

Auditory Stimuli Most Effective in Eliciting Reactivity in Critically Ill Patients with an Impaired Consciousness  Neurocritical Care

Detecting the metabolic transition to personalize nutritional timing: model development and preliminary validation in a large ICU cohort  Critical Care

Dynamic inflammatory trajectories and 28-day mortality in patients in the intensive care unit: An exploratory observational study  Journal of Intensive Medicine

Early Measurement of Quadriceps Response to Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation to Identify Future ICU-Acquired Weakness  Critical Care Medicine

Effect of endotracheal tube cuff pressure on postoperative sore throat in laparoscopic surgeries  Journal of Perioperative Practice

Effect of lateral positioning on ventilation in patients with blunt thoracic injury during pressure support ventilation: the VICTORY study  Intensive Care Medicine Experimental

Effect of norepinephrine on ventricular systolic function during septic shock: the ENESySS study  Journal of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Critical Care

Epidemiology and pharmacological management of new onset atrial fibrillation in critically ill adults: A multicentre observational study  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Evolution of triglyceride and total cholesterol levels after critical illness: Preliminary insights into post-ICU metabolic sequelae  Journal of Critical Care

Extreme acidosis in hospitalised patients: A 10-year single-centre, retrospective analysis  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Facilitators and barriers to optimizing sedation practices in critically ill adult patients: A qualitative study  Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

Frailty and one year survival in patients admitted to the intensive care unit following a medical emergency team review: a retrospective registry-based study  Resuscitation

Gastric Ultrasound Utility in Predicting Stomach Contents in Patients with Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Health outcomes according to severity of acute kidney injury at ICU admission: a population-based cohort study  Intensive Care Medicine

High-flow nasal therapy vs conventional oxygen therapy in mild COVID-19 hypoxaemia: a Bayesian reanalysis of the COVID-HIGH Trial  Journal of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Critical Care

Higher Serum Cortisol is Associated with Delayed Shock Resolution in Septic Shock Patients  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Hyperlactatemia and Lactic Acidosis in Critically Ill Patients with Hematological Malignancies: A Single Center Retrospective Study  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Impact of different extracorporeal blood purification strategies during continuous renal replacement therapy in septic shock patients  Journal of Intensive Medicine

Impact of post-decannulation high fever on mortality in patients with severe ARDS treated with veno-venous ECMO: a multicenter retrospective study  Journal of Intensive Care

Intensive care unit versus high-dependency care unit for patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury requiring continuous kidney replacement therapy: An observational nationwide database study Open Access  Blood Purification

Losing a close person to death in ICU: A thematic analysis of bereaved family members’ experiences of end-of-life care  Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

Mean Arterial Pressure to Renal Resistive Index Ratio Predicts Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury in Intra-Abdominal Infections  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Monotherapy versus combination therapy in severe Legionella pneumonia: a multicenter retrospective observational study  Critical Care

Opioid Escalation in the ICU and 90-Day Readmission After Major Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using the MIMIC-IV Database  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Outcomes and prediction of mortality in patients requiring prolonged veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in the PRECISE-ECLS observational study  Critical Care

Plasminogen supplementation reverses fibrinolytic insufficiency in sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation: a pilot study  Intensive Care Medicine

Protocol for a multicentre target trial emulation comparing ketamine and propofol in critically ill adults undergoing emergency intubation  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Quantitative pupillometry index to prognosticate neurological outcome in unconscious cardiac arrest patients  Resuscitation

Relationship between Cortical Electrical Responsiveness and Changes in Regional Cerebral Oxygenation (rSO2) and Return of Spontaneous Circulation in Prolonged Cardiac Arrest: A Multi-Center Observational Study  Resuscitation

Reliability of airway occlusion pressure (P0.1) in predicting extubation failure in critically ill patients  Journal of Intensive Medicine

Safety of Enteral Feeding in Patients on High-Flow Nasal Cannula  Critical Care Medicine

Subjective and objective sleep measurements in ICU Patients: A longitudinal analysis of 706 sleep episode pairs  Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

Targeting and monitoring mean arterial pressure in critical illness: A mixed-methods service evaluation  Journal of the Intensive Care Society

The international, prospective COSMOS (CytOSorb® TreatMent Of Critically Ill PatientS) Registry: results from the first 300 patients  Journal of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Critical Care

The Peak Systolic Velocity Variation of Superior Mesenteric Artery May Predict Gastrointestinal Dysfunction in Septic Patients: A Clinical Observational Research  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

The relationship between a lower body mass index and reintubation among critically ill patients: a multicenter retrospective cohort study  Journal of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Critical Care

The relationship between alarm fatigue and burnout among neonatal intensive care unit nurses: A multi-center cross-sectional study  Intensive and Critical Care Nursing

Thrombin Generation Measurement: A Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Approach for Identifying Early-Stage Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation in Individuals with Sepsis  Journal of Intensive Care Medicine

Thromboelastography to monitor anticoagulation in ICU patients receiving a continuous infusion of unfractionated heparin  Journal of Critical Care

Time-weighted lactate and glucose–lactate ratio outperform static values in ICU mortality prediction after traumatic brain injury: a retrospective cohort study  Journal of Intensive Care

Unraveling the Enterococcus enigma in ICU peritonitis: a multicenter cohort study  Critical Care

Using laxative to recover intestinal function could improve the survival outcome for patients with cardiac arrest: a retrospective cohort study from MIMIC-IV database  Journal of Intensive Care

Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) in high-risk (HR) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)  Critical Care and Resuscitation

Metadata

Summary author: Rebecca Howes @ClinicalLibsPHU
Summary date:
Picture by: Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash