Fever in the ICU The appearance of a new fever is always a source of concern in a hospitalized patient. This chapter presents the general considerations for a new-onset fever…

Thermoregulatory Disorders The human thermoregulatory system limits the daily variation in body temperature to ±0.6°C (1). This chapter de-scribes what happens when this system fails, and allows the body temperature…

Abdominal Infections This chapter describes abdominal infections that you are likely to encounter in the ICU, including infections of the biliary tree (acalculous cholecystitis), bowel (Clostridium difficile infections), and peritoneal…

Pancreatitis and Liver Failure The conditions described in this chapter (i.e., necrotizing pancreatitis and liver failure) share the following features: (a) both are associated with injury in multiple organs, (b)…

Calcium and Phosphorus Calcium and phosphorus are responsible for much of the structural integrity of the bony skeleton. Although neither is found in abundance in the soft tissues, both have…

Magnesium Magnesium is the second most abundant intracellular cation, and is an essential element for the utilization of energy in the organic world. Unfortunately, the “tip of the iceberg” analogy…

Potassium Monitoring the plasma potassium (K+) level as an index of total body K+ is like evaluating the size of an iceberg by its visible tip, because less than 1%…

Osmotic Disorders As many as 40% of ICU patients have a problem with the osmotic balance between intracellular and extracellular fluid (1). The signal for this problem is a change…

Acute Kidney Injury As many as 70% of ICU patients have some degree of acute renal dysfunction, and about 5% require renal replacement therapy (1). The acute renal dysfunction that…