Preparation of outpatients for excretory urography: is bowel preparation with laxatives and dietary restrictions necessary?
Our results show that bowel preparation with laxatives and dietary restrictions do not improve visualization of the urinary tract on excretory urograms obtained in outpatients. We conclude that such preparation in this group of patients was unnecessary and that it need not be performed routinely.
The IBMP-10 score was less reliable than the APACHE II score in predicting 14-day mortality in this independent population of VAP patients. This finding highlights the need for additional validation of new disease severity scoring systems in a study population independent of the population used to derive score criteria, as well as in more specific populations of critically ill patients.