Do echocardiographic measures and biomarkers provide reliable prognostic information in patients with sepsis?
Current echocardiographic and biomarker evaluations lack reliable prognostic utility in septic cardiomyopathy, highlighting the need for formal diagnostic criteria.
As a result of conflicting data, echocardiographic measures of left ventricular (systolic or diastolic) or right ventricular function cannot currently provide reliable prognostic information in patients with sepsis. Natriuretic peptides and cardiac troponins are of similarly unclear utility. Heterogeneous classification of illness, treatment variability, and lack of formal diagnostic criteria for septic cardiomyopathy contribute to the conflicting results. Development of formal diagnostic criteria, and use thereof in future studies, may help elucidate the link between cardiac performance and outcomes in patients with sepsis.
Ehrman et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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