Impact of increased mean arterial pressure on skin microcirculatory oxygenation in vasopressor-requiring septic patients: an interventional study

BACKGROUND: Heterogeneity of microvascular blood flow leading to tissue hypoxia is a common finding in patients with septic shock. It may be related to suboptimal systemic perfusion pressure and lead to organ failure. Mapping of skin microcirculatory oxygen saturation and relative hemoglobin concentration using hyperspectral imaging allows to identify heterogeneity of perfusion and perform targeted measurement of oxygenation. We hypothesized that increasing mean arterial pressure would result in improved oxygenation in areas of the skin with most microvascular blood pooling. METHODS: We included adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit within the previous 24 h with sepsis and receiving a noradrenaline infusion. Skin oxygen saturation was measured using hyperspectral imaging-based method at baseline and after the increase in mean arterial pressure by 20 mm Hg by titration of noradrenaline doses. The primary outcome was an increase in skin oxygen saturation depending upon disease severity. RESULTS: We studied 30 patients with septic shock. Median skin oxygen saturation changed from 26.0 (24.5–27.0) % at baseline to 30.0 (29.0–31.0) % after increase in mean arterial pressure (p = 0.04). After adjustment for baseline saturation, patients with higher SOFA scores achieved higher oxygen saturation after the intervention (r(2) = 0.21; p = 0.02). Skin oxygen saturation measured at higher pressure was found to be marginally predictive of mortality (OR: 1.10; 95% CI 1.00–1.23; p = 0.053). CONCLUSIONS: Improvement of microcirculatory oxygenation can be achieved with an increase in mean arterial pressure in most patients. Response to study intervention is proportional to disease severity.