Critical Care Review Conference 2021
Critical Care Reviews (CCR) will be hosting an online conference on 20-22nd of January focusing on sharing and disseminating science. CCR is a free, not-for-profit, educational critical care project promoting open access to scientific advancement. Its resources include a website, annual meeting and book, newsletter and podcast. The project is run by Rob Mac Sweeney, an intensivist working in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The eCritical Care Reviews Conference 2021 (eCCRC21) will be live-streamed and free to view. Topics will cover major trial results, reviewing the best critical care trials of 2020 with their investigators, and holding various discussions on trial methodology and interpretation.
The programme is currently being set up and will be available closer to the conference, due to the likely addition of late breaking trial results. There will be three streams – trial results, trial discussions, and trial methods and interpretation. Results sessions will last approximately 90 minutes and include the trial results presentation, independent editorial, questions and panel discussion. Discussions of the best critical care trials of the preceding 12 months last 40 minutes and include the trial presentation from the chief, or senior, investigator, an independent editorialist, and open questions. Methods and interpretation talks range from 30 to 90 minutes, and include statisticians and methodologists, who are key contributors to the success of the meeting.
Check out the talks from previous meetings here.
REMAP-CAP at eCCRC21
The adaptive platform trial to treat patients with severe community acquired pneumonia ,REMAP-CAP, will be presenting important trial results at eCCRC21. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, REMAP-CAP has extended to also investigate new specific treatments for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients on the intensive care unit and on the ward. The aim is to improve outcomes for moderately or severely ill patients with COVID-19.
In a sub-study of the REMAP-CAP study, published in JAMA on 2 September, it was shown that the use of corticosteroids increases the likelihood of survival of critically ill COVID-19 patients. The results confirm what a study from the University of Oxford previously showed: a third fewer deaths with dexamethasone treatment.
The REMAP-CAP study also found that immune modulators are effective in improving survival in the sickest COVID-19 patients. Tocilizumab and a second drug, sarilumab, can reduce the relative risk of death by 24% when administered to COVID-19 patients within 24 hours of entering intensive care. You can read the preprint here.
REMAP-CAP’s convalescent plasma arm paused enrollment of critically ill COVID-19 patients. An interim analysis of all severely ill COVID-19 trial participants requiring intensive care unit support showed that convalescent plasma did not improve outcomes in this group.