Year in Review 2020: Noteworthy Literature in Cardiothoracic Critical Care

Abstract

This year will be forever marked by the drastic changes COVID-19 wrought on our personal and professional lives. New roles and challenges in critical care have forced us to be constantly nimble and flexible in how we approach medicine. The strain of these challenges is apparent throughout the health care community and our society as a whole. Despite this adversity, 2020 will also be remembered for fantastic advances in research. This article is a collection of influential and exciting studies published in 2020 encompassing a broad swath of critical care with a focus on cardiothoracic critical care. Themes include examinations of early extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients, the impact of sedation and other risk factors on perioperative mortality, a novel fluid resuscitation strategy following cardiac surgery, and advances in the fields of heart and lung transplantation as well as how they were affected by COVID-19. Given that many cardiothoracic intensivists were redeployed to the care of SARS-CoV-2 patients, we also discuss important advances in therapeutics for the virus.