PulmCrit (EMCrit)

Sometimes muggles criticize FOAM as lacking peer review, but that simply reflects a misunderstanding of the way peer review works here.  FOAMed operates off a post-publication peer review system.  This typically occurs mostly in the comments section of each blog or chapter (with some on twitter as well).  Unlike journals, anyone is free to leave […]

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage is encountered uncommonly, but it is useful to have a general understanding of this.  Many etiologies can cause diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, with pulmonary vasculitis being perhaps the most widely feared.  This chapter explores how to sift through the differential diagnosis of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage and, if vasculitis is suspected, how to initiate […]

Severe asthma is a challenging topic, because this spans a lot of different patient phenotypes with varying severity and physiology.  This chapter attempts to outline some general principles to guide management, but ultimately clinical judgement and serial evaluation at the bedside will trump all of this.  The rarity, acuity, and heterogeneity of severe asthma make […]

background Fever is harmful in post-arrest patients.  This creates confusion in studies of hypothermia in post-arrest patients:  is the benefit of hypothermia due to fever avoidance, due to a benefit from hypothermia itself, or perhaps due to both?  Seminal studies in the early 2000s found mortality benefit from application of hypothermia to 33C after cardiac […]

background on IV vitamin C We live in divided times.  Paul Marik’s study on using vitamin C in sepsis was perhaps the most polarizing publication in recent memory (aside from perhaps the Mueller report).  It was lauded by some, yet derided just as strongly by others.  Unfortunately, the kerfuffle surrounding this study overshadowed the larger […]