Central Venous Oxygen Saturation Under Non-Protocolized Resuscitation Is Not Related to Survival in Severe Sepsis or Septic Shock

Protocolized hemodynamic resuscitation in severe sepsis or septic shock is not universally applied in all emergency departments and general hospital wards around the world. It is unknown whether ScvO2 levels are associated with the clinical outcome of severe sepsis or septic shock under nonprotocolized resuscitation. In this prospective study, we enrolled 124 noncirrhotic patients who were admitted to intensive care units for severe sepsis or septic shock. The average Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 25.3 (SD, 7.6). According to ScvO2 levels after initial resuscitation before intensive care unit admission, patients were divided into high (ScvO2 ≥ 70%, n = 63) and low (ScvO2 < 70%, n = 61) ScvO2 groups. Compared with high ScvO2 groups, low ScvO2 groups showed no significant differences in 28-day mortality (25.4% vs. 24.6%; P = 0.943) or hospital mortality (30.2% vs. 31.1%; P = 0.794). Multivariate logistic regression models showed that low mean arterial pressure (hazard ratio, 0.967; 95% confidence interval, 0.940-0.994; P = 0.019) and high central venous pressure (hazard ratio, 1.150; 95% confidence interval, 1.057-1.251; P = 0.001) after initial resuscitation were associated with higher 28-day mortality. On the contrary, ScvO2 levels after resuscitation were not related to 28-day or hospital mortality. In conclusion, our results showed that mean arterial pressure and central venous pressure were still the most important hemodynamic variables in initial hemodynamic resuscitation. Low postresuscitation ScvO2 was not associated with a worse outcome. It is possible that ScvO2 less than 70% might not necessarily be associated with tissue hypoxia, and critical ScvO2 levels require to be determined by further studies.