Future of critical care medicine

Abstract

This chapter reviews progress in various current medical research areas and emphasizes the possibility of a future translating them to the real practice in critical care setting. Variation in human genomics can be used in many aspects such as disease prediction, outcome prognostication, and choosing the right treatment for patients. Gut microbiome has gained increasing acceptance in its ability to maintain body homeostasis and control general health of humans. Promising outcomes of cell-based therapy predict the future that more diseases will rely on the treatment with stem cells and that physicians will encounter more patients with organ transplant. New therapeutic strategies of sepsis and ARDS are discussed together with multimodality approaches to neuroprotection. Finally, advances in technology are mentioned in terms of the development of more reliable monitoring devices, more sophisticated operating systems, and novel medications.