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World J Crit Care Med. Feb 4, 2016; 5(1): 89-95
Published online Feb 4, 2016. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v5.i1.89
Corticosteroids for severe influenza pneumonia: A critical appraisal
Wagner Luis Nedel, David Garcia Nora, Jorge Ibrain Figueira Salluh, Thiago Lisboa, Pedro Póvoa
Wagner Luis Nedel, Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Porto Alegre, RS 91350-200, Brazil
David Garcia Nora, Intensive Care Unit, Vila Franca de Xira Hospital, 2600-009 Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
Jorge Ibrain Figueira Salluh, D’or Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22281-100, Brazil
Thiago Lisboa, Critical Care Department, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Post-Graduation Program (PPG) Pneumology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 90035-903, Brazil
Pedro Póvoa, Polyvalent Intensive Care Unit, São Francisco Xavier Hospital, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, 1169-056 Lisbon, Portugal
Pedro Póvoa, Nova Medical School, CEDOC, New University of Lisbon, 1169-056 Lisbon, Portugal
Author contributions: All authors reviewed, edited and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jorge Ibrain Figueira Salluh, MD, PhD, D’or Institute for Research and Education, Rua Diniz Cordeiro, 30-3o andar, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro 22281-100, Brazil. jorgesalluh@gmail.com
Telephone: +55-21-25383541
Received: September 28, 2015
Peer-review started: October 2, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: November 30, 2015
Accepted: January 8, 2016
Article in press: January 11, 2016
Published online: February 4, 2016
Processing time: 116 Days and 16.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This review article presents a critical appraisal to the use of corticosteroids in severe influenza infections covering the most relevant clinical studies, underlying mechanisms (pathophysiologic and pharmacologic aspects) and providing a scenario to help clinicians at bedside facing this challenging situation.