Marco Pasetto, Lorenzo Antonino Calabrò, Filippo Annoni, Sabino Scolletta, Vincent Labbé, Katia Donadello, Fabio Silvio Taccone
In patients with septic shock, compensatory tachycardia initially serves to maintain adequate cardiac output and tissue oxygenation but may persist despite appropriate fluid and vasopressor resuscitation. This sustained elevation in heart rate and altered heart rate variability, indicative of autonomic dysfunction, is a well-established independent predictor of adverse outcomes in critical illness. Elevated heart rate exacerbates myocardial oxygen demand, reduces ventricular filling time, compromises coronary perfusion during diastole, and impairs the isovolumetric relaxation phase of the cardiac cycle, contributing to ventricular-arterial decoupling...
April 18, 2024: Journal of Clinical Medicine