Can blood loss be assessed by echocardiography? An experimental study on a controlled hemorrhagic shock model in piglets

BACKGROUND Assessment of the volemic loss is a major challenge during the management of hemorrhagic shock. Echocardiography is an increasingly used noninvasive tool for hemodynamic assessment. In mechanically ventilated patients, some studies suggest that respiratory variations of mean subaortic time-velocity integral (∆VTI) would be predictive of fluid filling response. An experimental model of controlled hemorrhagic shock provides a precise approach to study correlation between blood volume and cardiac ultrasonographic parameters. OBJECTIVES The main objective was to analyze the ∆VTI changes during hemorrhage in an anesthetized-piglet model of controlled hemorrhagic shock. The secondary objective was to evaluate ∆VTI during the resuscitation process after hemorrhage and other echocardiographic parameters changes during the whole protocol. METHODS Twenty-four anesthetized and ventilated piglets were bled until mean arterial pressure reached 40 mm Hg. Controlled hemorrhage was maintained for 30 minutes before randomizing the piglets to two resuscitation groups: fluid filling group resuscitated with saline solution and noradrenaline group resuscitated with saline solution and noradrenaline. Echocardiography and hemodynamic measures, including pulsed pressure variations (PPV), were performed at different stages of the protocol. RESULTS The correlation coefficient between ΔVTI and PPV with the volume of bleeding during the hemorrhagic phase were r...
Source: The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: INDEPENDENT SUBMISSION Source Type: research