Surviving critical illness is not always the happy ending that we imagine for patients. Intensive care unit (ICU) teams have traditionally focused on short term goals such as stabilizing or reversing organ system dysfunction, with little understanding of what became of patients once they left the ICU. However, research conducted in recent years has demonstrated that many ICU survivors can suffer from ill health and mental health issues for months or years to follow. The Textbook of Post-ICU Medicine: The Legacy of Critical Care identifies the long term outcomes of ICU and the steps that can be taken to improve patients' health and wellbeing.

Describing the major clinical syndromes affecting ICU survivors, the book delineates established or postulated biological mechanisms of the post-acute recovery process, and discusses strategies for treatment and rehabilitation to promote recovery in the ICU and in the long term. Many ICU survivors suffer from a range of long-lasting physical and psychological issues such as end stage renal disease, congestive heart failure, cognitive impairment, neuromuscular weakness, and depression or anxiety, which affect their overall quality of life and ability to lead productive lives. This book discusses the science of the recovery process and the innovative treatment regimens which are helping ICU survivors regain function as they heal following trauma or disease. This lingering burden or 'legacy' of critical illness is now recognized as a major public health issue, with major efforts underway to understand how it can be prevented, mitigated, or treated.

The chapters are written by an interdisciplinary panel of leading clinicians and researchers working in the field. The book serves as a unique reference for general practitioners, internists and nurses caring for long term ICU survivors as well as specialists in intensive care medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine.

Robert Stevens, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA,Nicholas Hart, Clinical Research Consultant, Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, National Institute of Health Research, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK,Margaret Herridge, Director of ICU Research, Critical Care and Respiratory Medicine, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

1. Life After the ICU, Margaret Herridge
2. Critical Illness and Long-Term Outcomes Worldwide, Neill KJ Adhikari
3. Mortality After Critical Illness, Matthew Baldwin and Hannah Wunsch
4. The Role of Long-Term Ventilator Hospitals, Jeremy M Kahn
5. The Overlap of Palliative Care and Critical Illness, Aluko A Hope and Judith E Nelson
6. Patterns of Recovery After Critical Illness, Nishant K Sekaran and Theodore J Iwashyna
7. Quality of Life After Critical Illness, Jose GM Hofhuis and Peter E Spronk
8. Costs and Resource Utilization in Prolonged Critical Illness, Christopher E Cox
9. Caring for the ICU survivor: The Family Caregiver Burden, Christopher T Erb and Mark D Siegel
10. Survival and Recovery: A Patient's Perspective, Cheryl Misak
11. One Family's Perspective on the Legacy of Critical Illness, David Dyzenhaus
12. Chronic Organ Dysfunction Following Critical Illness, Greet Hermans
13. Chronic Multiple Organ Dysfunction, Kevin M Fischer and Shannon S Carson
14. Prolonged Respiratory Insufficiency and Ventilator Dependence in the ICU, Gaetan Beduneau, Jean-Christophe M Richard, and Laurent Brochard
15. The Long-Term Outcomes of Acute Kidney Injury, Ron Wald and Ziv Harel
16. Severe Burn Injuries and Their Long-Term Implications, Eva C Diaz, Celeste C Finnerty, and David N Herndon
17. Consequences of Endotracheal Intubation and Tracheostomy, Bernd Schonhofer and Stefan Kluge
18. Cognitive and Behavioural Disorders Following Critical Illness, E Wesley Ely
19. Cognitive Impairment Following Critical Illness, Ramona O Hopkins and James C Jackson
20. Depressive Mood States Following Critical Illness, O Joseph Bienvenu
21. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Critical Illness, Christina Jones and Richard D Griffiths
22. Sleep Disorders and Recovery from Critical Illness, Scott Hoff and Nancy A Collop
23. Neuromuscular and Musculoskeletal Disorders Following Critical Illness, Naeem Ali
24. Long-Term Implications of ICU-Acquired Muscle Weakness, Nicola Latronico, Simone Piva, and Victoria McCredie
25. Bone and Joint Disease Following Critical Illness, Amelia Barry and Guy Trudel
26. Biological Mechanisms of Injury and Repair, Robert D Stevens
27. Genetic Determinants of Sepsis Outcomes, Sachin Yende and Derek C Angus
28. Physiological Reserve and Frailty in Critical Illness, Robert C McDermid and Sean M Bagshaw
29. Cognitive Reserve, Vanessa Raymont and Robert D Stevens
30. Pathophysiology of Acute Kidney Injury, Repair, and Regeneration, Ching-Wei Tsai, Sanjeev Noel, and Hamid Rabb
31. Myocardial Remodelling after Myocardial Infarction, Kavitha Vimalesvaran and Michael Marber
32. Sepsis-Associated Encephalopathy, Eric Magalhaes, Angelo Polito, Andrea Polito, and Tarek Sharshar
33. Critical Illness Neuropathy, Myopathy, and Sodium Channelopathy, Mark M Rich
34. The Impact of Critical Illness and Skeletal Muscle Structure, Catherine L Hough
35. Skeletal Muscle Mass Regulation in Critical Illness, Zudin Puthucheary, Hugh Montgomery, Nicholas Hart, and Stephen Harridge
36. Malnutrition in Critical Illness: Implications, Causes, and Therapeutic Approaches, Daren K Heyland and Marina Mourtzakis
37. Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Strategies in the ICU, Nicholas Hart
38. Choice of Renal Replacement Therapy and Renal Recovery, Antoine G Schneider, Neil J Glassford, and Rinaldo Bellomo
39. Ventilator Liberation Strategies, Stefano Nava and Luca Fasano
40. Rethinking Sedation in the ICU, Sinead Galvin, Lisa Burry, and Sangeeta Mehta
41. Sleep-Promoting Strategies, Vito Fanelli, Lucia Mirabella, Stefano Italiano, Michele Dambrosio, and V Marco Ranieri
42. Effects of Insulin and Glycaemic Management on Neuromuscular Function, Greet Hermans
43. Physical and Occupational Therapy in the ICU, William D Schweickert and John P Kress
44. Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation: A New Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Strategy in the ICU, Vasiliki Gerovasili and Serafim N Nanas
45. Exercise and Early Rehabilitation in the Intensive Care Unit, Rik Gosselink
46. Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Strategies in the Post-ICU, Richard D Griffiths
47. Assessment of Peripheral and Respiratory Muscle Strength in ICU, Gerrard Rafferty and John Moxham
48. Clinical Pathways for the Continuum of Rehabilitation, Karen Hoffman, Amanda Thomas, and Stephen Brett
49. Prolonged Weaning, Benedict Creagh-Brown, Joerg Steier, and Nicholas Hart
50. Models of Rehabilitative Care after Critical Illness, Margaret S Herridge and Jill I Cameron
51. Post-ICU Rehabilitation, Doug Elliott and Linda Denehy
52. Narratives of Illness and Healing after the ICU, Christina Jones
53. ICU Follow-up Clinics, Shannon L Goddard and Brian H Cuthbertson