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. 2016:2016:8560871.
doi: 10.1155/2016/8560871. Epub 2016 Nov 7.

Intravenous Vitamin C Administered as Adjunctive Therapy for Recurrent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Amit Bharara  1 , Catherine Grossman  1 , Daniel Grinnan  1 , Aamer Syed  1 , Bernard Fisher  1 , Christine DeWilde  1 , Ramesh Natarajan  1 , Alpha A Berry Fowler  1
Affiliations

Intravenous Vitamin C Administered as Adjunctive Therapy for Recurrent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Amit Bharara et al. Case Rep Crit Care. 2016.

Abstract

This case report summarizes the first use of intravenous vitamin C employed as an adjunctive interventional agent in the therapy of recurrent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The two episodes of ARDS occurred in a young female patient with Cronkhite-Canada syndrome, a rare, sporadically occurring, noninherited disorder that is characterized by extensive gastrointestinal polyposis and malabsorption. Prior to the episodes of sepsis, the patient was receiving nutrition via chronic hyperalimentation administered through a long-standing central venous catheter. The patient became recurrently septic with Gram positive cocci which led to two instances of ARDS. This report describes the broad-based general critical care of a septic patient with acute respiratory failure that includes fluid resuscitation, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and vasopressor support. Intravenous vitamin C infused at 50 mg per kilogram body weight every 6 hours for 96 hours was incorporated as an adjunctive agent in the care of this patient. Vitamin C when used as a parenteral agent in high doses acts "pleiotropically" to attenuate proinflammatory mediator expression, to improve alveolar fluid clearance, and to act as an antioxidant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

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