Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of colistin in the treatment of severe infections. Methods PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge and Wanfang databases were searched. The initial literatures and references listed in the literature were manually searched. Controlled studies were analyzed using RevMan 5. 0 software.Results Eleven studies were enrolled, including five prospective studies and six retrospective studies. Pooled analysis showed that, compared with other therapies, treatment with colistin in severe infections did not improve 28 or 30-day mortality, clinical symptoms, or bacteria clearance,however, increased the risk of kidney damage. Subgroup analysis showed that colistin did not improve symptoms, mortality ( which was even higher in the patients with drug resistant bacteria infection) , or kidney damage in drug resistant bacteria infections and ventilator associated pneumonia ( VAP) compared with the other antibiotic group. Conclusions Colistin is not superior to the other antibiotics in severe infections.However, there are some shortcomings in our meta-analysis due to limited high-quality RCTs, thus welldesigned RCTs are still needed before final conclusion is made.
Objective To review the effects of pulmonary surfactant in adult patients with acute lung injury ( ALI) /acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS) . Methods Randomized controlled trials ( RCTs) were recruited from PubMed ( 1966.1-2011.3) , ISI Web of Knowledge ( all the years) and Wanfang Database ( 1982-2011) . Related published data and attached references were hand searched. All the RCTs about pulmonary surfactant for the adult patients with ALI/ARDS were included, then a meta-analysis was performed. Results Eight eligible trials were enrolled. Pooled analysis showed that treatment with pulmonary surfactant was not associated with reduction in 28 or 30-day mortality compared with the control group [ OR 1.05, 95% CI ( 0.90, 1.22 ) , P = 0.55] , neither did subgroup analysis in the pneumoia/ aspiration, sepsis, and trauma/ surgery induced ALI/ARDS patients. Three RCTs showed the oxygenation was significantly improved in adult ALI/ARDS patients receiving pulmonary surfactant compared with the control group( Plt;0.05) . Shorter mechanical ventilation days was shown in the ALI/ARDS patients receiving pulmonary surfactant in one RCT(Plt;0.05) . Conclusions Meta-analysis showed pulmonary surfactant did not reduce the 28 or 30-day mortality of adult patients with ALI/ARDS, however, improved the oxygenation. Pulmonary surfactant can be considered a therapy in ALI/ARDS.
Objective To evaluate the effects of neuromuscular blocking agents( NMBAs) in acute respiratory distress syndrome( ARDS) . Methods Randomized controlled trials( RCTs) and non-RCTs were recruited fromPubMed( 1966. 1-2012. 3) , EMBASE( all the years) , Cochrane Library( all the years) and CNKI Database( 1979-2012) . Related published studies and attached references were hand searched. All the RCTs and non-RCTs ( including prospective and retrospective studies) about NMBAs for the patients with ARDS were included. Then a meta-analysis and statistic descriptions for RCTs( using RevMan5. 0 software) and non-RCTs were performed. Jadad and NEWCASTLE-OTTAWA QUALITY ASSESSMENT SCALE were used to assess the methodological quality of the included RCTs and non-RCTs. Results Three eligible RCTs and four non-RCTs were enrolled. The quality of the included trials was high. Pooled analysis for three RCTs showed that NMBAs significantly reduced 28-day mortality [ OR 0. 58, 95% CI( 0. 39, 0. 86) , P = 0. 007] and increased ventilator-free days within 28 days [ WMD 1. 91 d, 95% CI( 0. 28,3. 55) , P =0. 02] in ARDS compared with the control group. Conclusion The present meta-analysis indicates that NMBAs reduce the 28-day mortality and increase ventilator-free days within 28 days in ARDS.