Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score Modified for Recent Infection in Patients With Hematologic Malignant Tumors and Severe Sepsis

Validation of NEWS2, SIRS, and qSOFA in Postoperative Cardiac Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

The 'quick Sepsis Related Organ Failure Assessment' (qSOFA), 'Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome' (SIRS), and 'National Early Warning Score' 2 (NEWS2) scores are yet to be comparatively validated in ward-based cardiac surgical patients despite widespread routine use in clinical practice. We sought to assess the predictive validity of NEWS, SIRS, and qSOFA in identifying postoperative, ward-level cardiac surgical patients at risk of poor short-term mortality.

METHODS

All adult patients who underwent cardiac surgery at a single tertiary center between November 2014 and October 2017 were identified. Data for bedside observations, hematological results, and microbiology requests were obtained from electronic health records. Survival data were acquired from a national registry. The primary outcome was the discriminatory ability, measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC), of each score for in-hospital mortality.

RESULTS

One thousand five hundred forty three (male n = 1101, 71%) patients were included. Overall in-hospital mortality was 2.4%. There was no significant difference in discriminatory ability of NEWS (AUROC 0.5060), SIRS (AUROC 0.4874), and qSOFA (AUROC 0.5139) for in-hospital mortality (P = 0.881). Sensitivity for this outcome was ubiquitously low (13.51-40.54%).

CONCLUSIONS

Current illness-severity scores show a low discriminatory ability for in-hospital mortality in ward-based cardiac surgical patients. Caution should be used in the application of these prognostic screening tools for early detection of poor outcomes in this population.

The Use of qSOFA, SOFA, and Ramathibodi Early Warning Score (REWS) to Predict Severe Complications in Hematologic Malignancy Patients

Background

Sepsis causes high mortality in vulnerable groups such as hematologic malignancy (HM) patients. There are various early warning scores of sepsis, eg, qSOFA, SOFA, and Ramathibodi Early Warning Score (REWS). This study aimed to compare REWS, qSOFA, and SOFA in predicting severe complications in hematologic malignancy patients visiting ED.

Methods

The study was conducted as a retrospective cohort study at the ED of Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Adult HM patients suspected of sepsis and have visited ED between March 2016 and December 2019.

Results

Among 124 patients in our cohort, 51 (41%) had serious complication in ED and 20 (16%) died within 28 days after admission. The AUROCs of SOFA and qSOFA indicate significantly higher predicting in serious complication in ED than REWS (SOFA, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.73–0.89], qSOFA, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.65–0.81], REWS, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.52–0.72] p=0.004) while the predicting in 28-day mortality is not statistically significantly different (SOFA, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.60–0.85], qSOFA, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.58–0.80], REWS, 0.60 [95% CI, 0.44–0.75] p=0.25).

Conclusion

The SOFA score is highest in predicting severe complications among hematologic malignancy patients.

Current Utility of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score: A Literature Review and Future Directions

The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score is commonly used in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to evaluate, prognosticate and assess patients. Since its validation, the SOFA score has served in various settings, including medical, trauma, surgical, cardiac, and neurological ICUs. It has been a strong mortality predictor and literature over the years has documented the ability of the SOFA score to accurately distinguish survivors from non-survivors on admission. Over the years, multiple variations have been proposed to the SOFA score, which have led to the evolution of alternate validated scoring models replacing one or more components of the SOFA scoring system. Various SOFA based models have been used to evaluate specific clinical populations, such as patients with cardiac dysfunction, hepatic failure, renal failure, different races and public health illnesses, etc. This study is aimed to conduct a review of modifications in SOFA score in the past several years. We review the literature evaluating various modifications to the SOFA score such as modified SOFA, Modified SOFA, modified Cardiovascular SOFA, Extra-renal SOFA, Chronic Liver Failure SOFA, Mexican SOFA, quick SOFA, Lactic acid quick SOFA (LqSOFA), SOFA in hematological malignancies, SOFA with Richmond Agitation-Sedation scale and Pediatric SOFA. Various organ systems, their relevant scoring and the proposed modifications in each of these systems are presented in detail. There is a need to incorporate the most recent literature into the SOFA scoring system to make it more relevant and accurate in this rapidly evolving critical care environment. For future directions, we plan to put together most if not all updates in SOFA score and probably validate it in a large database a single institution and validate it in multisite data base.

Outcomes after intensive care unit admission in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients: A real-life study

We conducted a retrospective study to analyze the prognostic factors impacting the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients undergoing first-line therapy and admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) compared to a control cohort who did not required ICU admission. Between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2018, 828 patients were diagnosed with DLBCL at our institution, including 72 patients who were required ICU admission during disease course. Among them, forty-five patients undergoing homogeneous first-line therapy with /R-CHOP-like regimen and ICU-admitted were selected for the present analysis. Control "non-ICU" DLBCL patients were matched by age, IPI score and treatment received. The median age at ICU admission was 65 years, 97.8% of patients displayed advanced-stage disease (III/IV), and 84.4% had a high IPI score (3-5). The main reasons for ICU admission were acute respiratory failure (40.0%) and septic shock (33.3%). The ICU mortality rate was 33.3%. The 2-year PFS was lower in ICU survivors patients than in non-ICU patients: 31.7% (95% CI 18.5-54.1) vs 60.8% (95% CI 51.2-72.1, P = .00049). Admission to the ICU is an event that clearly impacts the outcomes of patients with DLBCL, until 2 years after the event. ICU prognosis seems mainly related to critical patient severity at admission rather than lymphoma-related prognostic factors (IPIs), suggesting that ICU admission criteria should not be based only on the lymphoma prognosis.

Developing Adult Sepsis Protocol to Reduce the Time to Initial Antibiotic Dose and Improve Outcomes among Patients with Cancer in Emergency Department

Objective:

Sepsis is a common cause of noncancer-related deaths among oncology patients. Delay in the initiation of efficient antimicrobial therapy will decrease the survival rate. This study aims to develop a sepsis protocol for adult oncology patients to decrease the time needed to receive the initial dose of antibiotic in an emergency department (ED), improve the early recognition of sepsis, and decrease the in-hospital mortality rate due to sepsis.

Methods:

A quasi-experimental research design was used. A total of 168 participants were assigned into pre- and post-intervention groups (n = 85) and (n = 83), respectively. The quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment screening tool was used to screen patients in the triage room.

Results:

There was a significant difference in the proportions of receiving the initial antibiotic dose whether ≤1 h or >1 h between pre- and post-intervention groups. The results also showed that 89.4% of the postintervention group received their initial antibiotic dose in <1 h compared with 10.8% of the preintervention group. The median time needed for administering the initial antibiotic dose was decreased from 95 min to 45 min. The results of the changes in mortality rates are promising as it decreased 11.7% after applying the adult sepsis protocol.

Conclusions:

Applying an adult sepsis protocol in the ED significantly decreased the time needed to initiate antibiotic treatment. It is recommended to utilize a multidisciplinary and systematic approach in screening and treating sepsis.

Screening for dental focal infections in febrile patients with hematologic malignancies who received chemotherapy: a retrospective cohort study

Source of fever in chemotherapy patients is often unknown. Fever can also be fatal. No observational studies have determined the incidence of dental focal infection (DFI)-associated fever, despite oral cavity being a potential source of infection. We report the incidence of fever after chemotherapy in patients with hematological malignancies and their association with DFIs in 441 patients visiting our institution during a 6-year period. Dental treatments, including tooth extraction, were performed, and their oral and hematological profiles were monitored after chemotherapy. Fever was evident in 87 (38.5%) of 226 patients (≥ 38˚C) after the first cycle of chemotherapy. Sepsis due to DFIs (n = 4; 4.6%) was evaluated. Chemotherapy was delayed due to DFI in one case. Fever after chemotherapy should be differentiated from oral infections. Our study emphasizes the significance of DFI in patients with fever after chemotherapy and can help in improving the prognosis of patients.

The SOFA score-development, utility and challenges of accurate assessment in clinical trials

The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment or SOFA score was developed to assess the acute morbidity of critical illness at a population level and has been widely validated as a tool for this purpose across a range of healthcare settings and environments.In recent years, the SOFA score has become extensively used in a range of other applications. A change in the SOFA score of 2 or more is now a defining characteristic of the sepsis syndrome, and the European Medicines Agency has accepted that a change in the SOFA score is an acceptable surrogate marker of efficacy in exploratory trials of novel therapeutic agents in sepsis. The requirement to detect modest serial changes in a patients' SOFA score therefore means that increased clarity on how the score should be assessed in different circumstances is required.This review explores the development of the SOFA score, its applications and the challenges associated with measurement. In addition, it proposes guidance designed to facilitate the consistent and valid assessment of the score in multicentre sepsis trials involving novel therapeutic agents or interventions.ConclusionThe SOFA score is an increasingly important tool in defining both the clinical condition of the individual patient and the response to therapies in the context of clinical trials. Standardisation between different assessors in widespread centres is key to detecting response to treatment if the SOFA score is to be used as an outcome in sepsis clinical trials.

The prognostic value of a trend in modified SOFA score for patients with hematological malignancies in the intensive care unit

BACKGROUND

Patients with hematological malignancies admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) have a poor prognosis. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score is used to monitor patients on the ICU. Little is known about the value of this score in hematology patients. Therefore, the prognostic value of the SOFA score and a modified hematological SOFA score (SOFAhem) was studied.

METHODS

Patients with hematological malignancies admitted to the ICU between 1999 and 2009 were analyzed in a retrospective cohort study. The SOFAhem score was defined as the original SOFA score omitting the coagulation and neurological parameters.

RESULTS

In 149 admissions, ICU mortality was 52%. Mortality was significantly associated with higher SOFA and SOFAhem scores on admission, and trend in SOFAhem scores. An unchanged and increased SOFAhem score compared to decreasing SOFAhem scores was associated with a higher mortality rate (53% resp 67% resp 25%).

CONCLUSIONS

Trends in SOFA or SOFAhem score are both suitable as prognostic parameter. The trend in SOFAhem score seems to be independently related to mortality in hematological patients admitted to the ICU, and because of the higher odds ratios and lower P-values compared to the SOFA score, it is probably stronger related to mortality than the classical score, but its prognostic value should be tested in a larger cohort.