La microcirculación en el paciente crítico. Parte II: Evaluación y microcirculación como objetivo terapéutico

Severe sepsis and septic shock involve circulatory, inflammatory and metabolic disorders eventually resulting in a disruption of cellular energy. Microcirculatory disturbances are common in septic patients. Direct observation using sidestream dark field (SDF) videomicroscopy has enabled the construction of microcirculatory failure as a clinical concept in the critically ill patients. Many therapeutic interventions routinely used in the treatment of critically ill patients seem to be associated with limited changes in microcirculatory perfusion, irrespective of systemic hemodynamics, given the heterogeneous nature of these changes and the mechanisms potentially involved.