[Microcirculatory alterations in critically ill patients: pathophysiology, monitoring and treatments].

Microcirculation represents a complex system devoted to provide optimal tissue substrates and oxygen. Therefore, pathophysiological and technological knowledge developments tailored for capillary circulation analysis should generate major advances for critically ill patients' management. In the future, microcirculatory monitoring in several critical care situations will allow recognition of macro-microcirculatory decoupling, and, hopefully, it will promote the use of treatments aimed at preserving tissue oxygenation and substrate delivery. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.