Surgical Critical Care Glossary

Emergency procedure using an endovascular balloon to temporarily occlude aortic blood flow in hemorrhagic shock.

Emergency surgical opening of the chest performed in extremis to address cardiac arrest from thoracic trauma.

Bleeding into the retroperitoneal space, often from pelvic fractures or major vessel injury, requiring careful hemodynam...

Resumption of adequate heart rhythm and blood pressure during or after cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue releasing myoglobin and other cellular contents into circulation.

Classification system for acute kidney injury based on serum creatinine and urine output changes.

Return of Spontaneous Circulation following cardiac arrest and resuscitation efforts.

Planned reoperation performed to assess tissue viability or surgical repair integrity after initial surgery.

A life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection.

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, a clinical response to infection or other inflammatory insults.

A scoring system used to track organ dysfunction in critically ill patients over time.

Surgical intervention to eliminate or control the anatomical source of infection in patients with sepsis or complicated...

Surgical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to promote healing and prevent infection.

A pulmonary artery catheter used for advanced hemodynamic monitoring in critically ill patients.

Therapeutic cooling protocol for comatose patients following cardiac arrest to improve neurologic outcomes.

Point-of-care test that measures the viscoelastic properties of blood clotting to guide hemostasis management.

Pathological shift of fluid from intravascular and intracellular spaces into non-functional extracellular compartments.

Large-bore drainage tube inserted into pleural space to evacuate air, blood, or fluid from the chest cavity.

Surgical incision through the chest wall to access thoracic organs, requiring specialized postoperative critical care ma...

Point-of-care test measuring blood clot formation and breakdown in real-time.

A surgical procedure creating an opening in the anterior neck to place a breathing tube directly into the trachea.

Advanced cardiac imaging technique using an esophageal probe, providing superior visualization of cardiac structures in...

A wound care technique using controlled negative pressure to promote healing of complex or infected wounds.

Ventricular Assist Device, a mechanical pump supporting heart function in patients with severe heart failure.