Bohula EA, et al. - Given an incomplete description of the changing demographics, care patterns, and outcomes in the modern cardiac intensive care unit (CICU), researchers described patients admitted to contemporary, advanced CICUs. They studied 3,049 consecutive admitted patients in the Critical Care Cardiology Trials Network (CCCTN), an investigator-initiated network of North American tertiary CICUs. The most common admission diagnoses were acute coronary syndrome and heart failure, but there was a diverse spectrum of acute cardiac conditions. Respiratory insufficiency and shock were the most common indications for CICU admission. For many indications, high resource use, and poor outcomes were reported. While centers displayed considerable variation in patterns of practice, there was a considerable, low-risk population. Findings suggest the possible utility of multicenter collaborative networks, such as the CCCTN, for redesigning cardiac critical care and for examining new therapeutic strategies.