BACKGROUND: Septic shock represents an emerging pathology and sepsis and its complications are the main cause of death in medical and surgical intensive care units. Single-target therapeutic trials failed to demonstrate any benefit, suggesting that the unselective removal of different mediators may be a more appropriate approach. METHODS: We evaluated a new technique (CPFA) combining a plasma-adsorption (with plasma filter and sorbent cartridge) with a traditional 'slow' extracorporeal treatment on 10 patients, 7 men and 3 women (mean age 53.8+/-16.3), all on mechanical ventilation, with septic shock and multiorgan failure. To identify easily comparable clinical data, the hemodynamic parameters of the patients were monitored with a recently developed, minimally invasive technology, Pulsion PiCCO . RESULTS: We obtained significant improvement of pre- versus post-treatment mean arterial pressure 77.2+/-12.5 vs. 83.3+/-14.1 mmHg (p<0.0001), cardiac index 4.03+/-0.89 vs. 3.46+/-0.82 L/m2/min (p<0.0001), indexed systemic vascular resistances 1388+/-496 vs. 1753+/-516 dynes x sec/cm5 (p<0.0001), PaO2/FiO2 ratio 204+/-87 vs. 232+/-81 (p<0.0001), and norepinephrine requirements 0.13+/-0.07 vs. 0 y/kg/min after a mean of 5.3+/-2.7 consecutive treatments. The survival at day 28 was 90%. Seven patients were discharged from the intensive care unit after a mean of 37.8+/-24 days (range 10-93). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a promising role for CPFA in improving hemodynamics and correcting vasoparalysis in septic shock. Moreover, the noninvasive monitoring of hemodynamic parameters with PiCCO could become a useful tool for estimating the effect of treatment and gaining easily comparable data in different patients.
BACKGROUND:Septic shock represents an emerging pathology and sepsis and its complications are the main cause of death in medical and surgical intensive care units. Single-target therapeutic trials failed to demonstrate any benefit, suggesting that the unselective removal of different mediators may be a more appropriate approach. METHODS: We evaluated a new technique (CPFA) combining a plasma-adsorption (with plasma filter and sorbent cartridge) with a traditional 'slow' extracorporeal treatment on 10 patients, 7 men and 3 women (mean age 53.8+/-16.3), all on mechanical ventilation, with septic shock and multiorgan failure. To identify easily comparable clinical data, the hemodynamic parameters of the patients were monitored with a recently developed, minimally invasive technology, Pulsion PiCCO . RESULTS: We obtained significant improvement of pre- versus post-treatment mean arterial pressure 77.2+/-12.5 vs. 83.3+/-14.1 mmHg (p<0.0001), cardiac index 4.03+/-0.89 vs. 3.46+/-0.82 L/m2/min (p<0.0001), indexed systemic vascular resistances 1388+/-496 vs. 1753+/-516 dynes x sec/cm5 (p<0.0001), PaO2/FiO2 ratio 204+/-87 vs. 232+/-81 (p<0.0001), and norepinephrine requirements 0.13+/-0.07 vs. 0 y/kg/min after a mean of 5.3+/-2.7 consecutive treatments. The survival at day 28 was 90%. Seven patients were discharged from the intensive care unit after a mean of 37.8+/-24 days (range 10-93). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a promising role for CPFA in improving hemodynamics and correcting vasoparalysis in septic shock. Moreover, the noninvasive monitoring of hemodynamic parameters with PiCCO could become a useful tool for estimating the effect of treatment and gaining easily comparable data in different patients.