Fluid resuscitation during early sepsis: a need for individualization

Abstract

The prognosis of septic shock is tightly linked to the earliness of both appropriate antibiotic therapy and early hemodynamic resuscitation. This latter is essentially based on fluid and vasopressors administration. The step-by-step strategy, called "early goal-directed therapy" (EGDT) developed in 2001 and endorsed by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) between 2004 and 2016 is no longer recommended. Indeed, recent multicenter randomized clinical trials showed no reduction in all-cause mortality, duration of organ support and in-hospital length of stay with EGDT in comparison with standard care. The most recent SCC guidelines have dropped the original EGDT by deleting the central venous pressure and the central venous oxygen saturation from the recommendations. Dynamic variables of fluid responsiveness are now recommended to be used after an initial fluid infusion of a fixed volume (30 mL/kg) during the first three hours of resuscitation. However, this approach is also questionable due to the lack of individualization at the early and crucial phase of resuscitation. In this review, we propose a more personalized approach for the early and later phases of fluid resuscitation during sepsis.