UMEM Educational Pearls

Septic Cardiomyopathy

  • Cardiac dysfunction is common in patients with sepsis.
  • Though mulitiple definitions exist, sepsis cardiomyopathy (SCM) is generally defined as an "acute syndrome of cardiac dysfunction that is unrelated to ischemia in patients with sepsis".
  • Depending on the study, the incidence of SCM ranges anwywhere from 7% to 70%.
  • Risk factors for SCM include:
    • Male
    • Younger age
    • High lactate at admission
    • History of heart failure
  • The best approach to treating patients with SCM is to maximize your treatment of sepsis.
  • Dobutamine is no longer routinely recommended for SCM based solely on measurements of ScvO2.

References

Beesley S, et al. Septic cardiomyopathy. Crit Care Med 2018. [epub ahead of print]