Hyperglycemia in the surgical intensive care unit

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Hyperglycemia during critical illness is associated with adverse outcome. Three landmark randomized control trials have shown that maintaining normoglycemia (80-110 mg/dl) with continuous insulin infusion reduces mortality and morbidity of critically ill patients. Subsequent confirmation studies showed mixed results. Several studies, especially in the surgical intensive care unit confirmed the positive effect of targeting normoglycemia, whereas other studies did not or even showed adverse outcome. Several important methodological differences between the studies may explain the discrepant findings. Targeting normoglycemia in the intensive care unit remains to be advocated, provided that adequate monitoring tools and expertise are available.

ISBN:978-3319-19668-8

Publication year:2016