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Hi, it’s Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com with another quick tip for families in intensive care.

So, one question we get quite frequently is,” What’s the survival rate with multiple organ failure in intensive care?” So, let’s just quickly break this down so you can understand what we mean by multiple organ failure. Let’s just quickly look at all the major organs of a body.

We all have those major organs starting from the top. Starting with the brain, going all the way down to the lungs, heart, kidneys, and liver. And some people might include the blood system as well. So as a rule of thumb, approximately 90% of patients in intensive care survive, but that’s not a breakdown of any sort of disease process. So, if someone is going into intensive care with multiple organ failure, there’s probably a different survival rate compared to all intensive care patients. But we really need to break this down.

We have now highlighted that there are six major organs. For example, if multiple organs are failing, that could look as follows. It could look like someone’s brain is failing maybe after a hypoxic brain injury or after a traumatic brain injury and their kidneys are failing. Well, the brain is the only organ you can’t really control. I would say the brain and liver are the only organs you can’t really control. You can temporarily control the lungs with a ventilator. You can temporarily control the heart with inotropes, vasopressors, potentially surgery, potentially ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). You can temporarily control or replace the kidneys with dialysis. You can’t really replace the liver. You would have to do a liver transplant.

So, let’s just say besides the brain and the liver, you can at least temporarily control all other major organs or you can have a replacement therapy, including for the lungs. You could ventilate them. You could also use ECMO temporarily. But for example, you take the kidneys and the brain, both organs are failing. Well, there’s not much you can do about the brain besides giving it time and maybe doing some neurology rehabilitation. And then, with the kidneys, you could do dialysis and have renal replacement therapy with dialysis. And that doesn’t mean that someone’s going to die. Is their prognosis poor? Maybe. Is it good to live with a brain that’s not working? That’s not up to me to make that judgment, but you can see that you have to break down multiple organ failure into different categories. It’s not a one size fits all. And whilst you can control or at least replace the function of the heart or the lungs with ventilation, again, with ECMO, potentially with inotropes, potentially with other therapies. Such as, if someone had a heart attack or a cardiac arrest, you could do cardiac stent. You could do cardiac surgery. There are a number of things you can do to help people survive. So, saying that multiple organ failure in intensive care is a death sentence. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. It really depends on what is going on, what organs are failing.

If you include again, the blood system, what if someone is anemic and you constantly have to give blood transfusions, what if someone is immunocompromised and they’re not producing white cells, and the immune system is weakened. What do you do then? Does that mean an organ is failing and you should stop treating? The question really is can you treat the organ failure? What are the chances for survival? What are the chances for recovery? It’s not a one size fits all. You can’t just say because multiple organs are failing that someone isn’t surviving. I’ve seen many patients in intensive care that went into multiple organ failure, maybe during a sepsis or a septic shock, which is the most common sort of situation where multiple organ failure might develop and, they survived intensive care, others didn’t. But it’s not a one size fits all. And you got to look at it on a case-by-case basis. What organs are failing? What are the treatment options, and how long will it take? What’s the side effects from the treatment? Is your loved one prepared to go through all of it? Are you as a family prepared to go through all of it? It’s really not a one size fits all. It’s on a case-by-case basis. You now know that you can control some organs, at least temporarily.

Other treatment that might help I haven’t mentioned that is actually, heart transplant, lung transplant, liver transplant, kidney transplant. You can’t transplant the brain. You could even do a bone marrow transplant, for any blood disorders. There are options. And I’m not suggesting that you should think that an organ donation will fix all the problems. I mean, there’s a process that needs to go through and, donor organs are a rare commodity, of course. But the take on message here is this, it all depends and you got to look at it on a case-by-case basis. What organs are affected, what are the treatment options really. So, I hope that helps.

That is my quick tip for today.

If you have a loved one in intensive care, for example, with multiple organ failure, you should definitely contact us as quickly as possible at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected].

Also have a look at our membership for families in intensive care at intensivecaresupport.org. There you have access to me and my team 24 hours a day in a membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related in the membership area and via email.

If you need a medical record review for your loved one while they’re in intensive care, please contact us as well. We are reviewing medical records for our clients in real time in ICU, so you can have that second opinion in real time. We also review medical records after intensive care. If you have unanswered questions, if you need a second opinion, or if you simply need closure or if you are suspecting medical negligence. But we strongly recommend to review medical records in real time so you have the maximum power in a situation like this.

Now, subscribe to my YouTube channel for regular updates for families in intensive care. Click the like button, click the notification bell, share the video with your friends and families, and comment below with your questions and insights.

Thank you so much for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, and I’ll talk to you in a few days. Take care.