Jugular vein distensibility predicts fluid responsiveness in septic patients

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study was to verify the efficacy of using internal jugular vein (IJV) size and distensibility as a reliable index of fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients with sepsis. METHODS: Hemodynamic data of mechanically ventilated patients with sepsis were collected through a radial arterial indwelling catheter connected to continuous hemodynamic monitoring system (Most Care®, Vytech Health, Padova, Italy), including cardiac index (CI) (L/min/M(2)), heart rate (beats/min), mean arterial pressure (MAP) (mmHg), central venous pressure (CVP) (mmHg) and arterial pulse pressure variation (PPV), coupled with ultrasound evaluation of IJV distensibility (%), defined as a ratio of the difference between IJV maximal antero-posterior diameter during inspiration and minimum expiratory diameter to minimum expiratory diameter x100. Patients were retrospectively divided into two groups; fluid responders (R), if CI increase of more than or equal to 15% after a 7 ml/kg crystalloid infusion, and non-responders (NR) if CI increased more than 15%. We compared differences in measured variables between R and NR groups and calculated receiver-operator-characteristic (ROC) curves of optimal IJV distensibility and PPV sensitivity and specificity to predicting R. We also calculated a combined inferior vena cava distensibility-PPV ROC curve to predict R. RESULTS: We enrolled 50 patients, of these, 30 were R. Responders presented higher IJV distensibility and PPV before fluid challenge than NR (P <0.05). An IJV distensibility more than 18% prior to volume challenge had an 80% sensitivity and 85% specificity to predict R. Pairwise comparison between IJV distensibility and PPV ROC curves revealed similar ROC area under the curve results. Interestingly, combining IJV distensibility more than 9.7% and PPV more than 12% predicted fluid responsiveness with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%. CONCLUSION: IJV distensibility is an accurate, easily acquired non-invasive parameter of fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated septic patients with performance similar to PPV. The combined use of IJV distensibility with left-sided indexes of fluid responsiveness improves their predictive value. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13054-014-0647-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.