Patients with limited cardiac reserve are less likely to survive and develop more complications following major surgery. By augmenting oxygen delivery index (DO2I) with a combination of intravenous fluids and inotropes (goal directed therapy (GDT)), postoperative mortality and morbidity of high-risk patients may be reduced. However, although most studies suggest that GDT may improve outcome in high-risk surgical patients, it is still not widely practiced. We set out to test the hypothesis that GDT results in greatest benefit in terms of mortality and morbidity in patients with the highest risk of mortality and have undertaken a systematic review of the current literature to see if this is correct. We performed a systematic search of Medline, Embase and CENTRAL databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and reviews of GDT in surgical patients. To minimize heterogeneity we excluded studies involving cardiac, trauma, and paediatric surgery. Extremely high risk, high risk and intermediate risks of mortality were defined as >20%, 5 to 20% and <5% mortality rates in the control arms of the trials, respectively. Meta analyses were performed and Forest plots drawn using RevMan software. Data are presented as odd ratios (OR; 95% confidence intervals (CI), and P-values). A total of 32 RCTs including 2,808 patients were reviewed. All studies reported mortality. Five studies (including 300 patients) were excluded from assessment of complication rates as the number of patients with complications was not reported. The mortality benefit of GDT was confined to the extremely high-risk group (OR = 0.20, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.41; P < 0.0001). Complication rates were reduced in all subgroups (OR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.60; P < 0.00001). The morbidity benefit was greatest amongst patients in the extremely high-risk subgroup (OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.51; P < 0.0001), followed by the intermediate risk subgroup (OR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.67; P = 0.0002), and the high-risk subgroup (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.89; P = 0.01). Despite heterogeneity in trial quality and design, we found GDT to be beneficial in all high-risk patients undergoing major surgery. The mortality benefit of GDT was confined to the subgroup of patients at extremely high risk of death. The reduction of complication rates was seen across all subgroups of GDT patients.

Diastolic dysfunction is common in septic patients and it is associated with mortality. Systolic dysfunction is less common and is not associated with mortality in this group of patients.

BackgroundSepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction is associated with poor outcomes, but traditional measurements of systolic function such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) do not directly correlate with prognosis. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) utilizing speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) could be a better marker of intrinsic left ventricular (LV) function, reflecting myocardial deformation rather than displacement and volume changes. We sought to investigate the prognostic value of GLS in patients with sepsis and/or septic shock.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review (PubMed and Embase up to 26 October 2017) and meta-analysis to investigate the association between GLS and mortality at longest follow up in patients with severe sepsis and/or septic shock. In the primary analysis, we included studies reporting transthoracic echocardiography data on GLS according to mortality. A secondary analysis evaluated the association between LVEF and mortality including data from studies reporting GLS.ResultsWe included eight studies in the primary analysis with a total of 794 patients (survival 68%, n = 540). We found a significant association between worse LV function and GLS values and mortality: standard mean difference (SMD) − 0.26; 95% confidence interval (CI) − 0.47, − 0.04; p = 0.02 (low heterogeneity, I2 = 43%). No significant association was found between LVEF and mortality in the same population of patients (eight studies; SMD, 0.02; 95% CI − 0.14, 0.17; p = 0.83; no heterogeneity, I2 = 3%).ConclusionsWorse GLS (less negative) values are associated with higher mortality in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock, while such association is not valid for LVEF. More critical care research is warranted to confirm the better ability of STE in demonstrating underlying intrinsic myocardial disease compared to LVEF.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13054-018-2113-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

SummaryThis systematic review and meta-analysis appraises the utility of point-of-care platelet function tests for predicting blood loss and transfusion requirements in cardiac surgical patients, and analyses whether their use within a transfusion management algorithm is associated with improved patient outcomes. We included 30 observational studies incorporating 3044 patients in the qualitative assessment, and nine randomised controlled trials including 1057 patients in the meta-analysis. Platelet function tests demonstrated significant variability in their ability to predict blood loss and transfusion requirements. Their use within a blood transfusion algorithm demonstrated a reduction in blood loss at longest follow-up (mean difference À102.9 ml (95% CI À149.9 to À56.1 ml), p < 0.001), and transfusion of packed red cells (RR 0.86 (95% CI 0.78À0.94), p = 0.001) and fresh frozen plasma (RR 0.42 (95% CI 0.30À0.59), p < 0.001). Viscoelastic methods used in combination with other platelet function tests achieved greater reduction in blood loss (mean difference À111.8 ml (95% CI À174.9 to À49.1 ml), p = 0.0005) compared with their use alone (mean difference À90.6 ml (95% CI 166.1À15.0 ml), p = 0.02). We conclude that incorporation of pointof-care platelet function tests into transfusion management algorithms is associated with a reduction in blood loss and transfusion requirements in cardiac surgery patients.

There is a strong association between both lower e' and higher E/e' and mortality in septic patients.