Importance of diastolic arterial pressure in septic shock: PRO

Along with heart rate, the arterial blood pressure is the most commonly used variable to assess the cardiovascular status in the general population. Physicians caring patients with chronic hypertension are well aware of the necessity to target a very tight safe range of diastolic arterial pressure (DAP), when using anti-hypertensive drugs. We believe that the DAP as a marker of arterial tone and as the upstream pressure for the left ventricular perfusion, is as an important variable to be considered in patients with septic shock. Since the DAP is easily obtained in such patients using an arterial catheter, it would be regrettable not to consider it, in particular to identify situations of low arterial tone, where initiation of a vasopressor may be urgent.
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news