Background: Peri-operative and critically ill patients often experience mild to moderate hypovolaemic shock with preserved mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR) and decreased stroke volume index (SVI).
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate echocardiographic parameters during simulated mild to moderate central hypovolaemia.
Design: This was a prospective preclinical study.
Setting: Laboratory trial performed in Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
Patients and methods: Thirty healthy male volunteers underwent graded central hypovolaemia using a lower body negative pressure (LBNP) chamber with a stepwise decrease to simulate a mild (-15 mmHg), mild-to-moderate (-30 mmHg), and moderate state of hypovolaemic shock (-45 mmHg). During every stage, a transthoracic echocardiography examination (TTE) was performed by a certified examiner.
Main outcome measures: Systolic and diastolic myocardial performance markers, as well as cardiac volumes were recorded during simulated hypovolaemia and compared to baseline values.
Results: During simulated hypovolaemia via LBNP, SVI decreased progressively at all stages, whereas MAP and HR did not consistently change. Left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction decreased at -30 and -45 mmHg. Simultaneously with SVI decline, LV global longitudinal strain (LV GLS), tricuspid annular plain systolic excursion (TAPSE), and right ventricular RV S' and left-atrial end-systolic volume (LA ESV) decreased compared to baseline at all stages.
Conclusions: In this study, simulated central hypovolaemia using LBNP did not induce consistent changes in MAP and HR. SVI decreased and was associated with deteriorated right- and left-ventricular function, observed with echocardiography. The decreased filling status was characterised by decreased LA ESV.
Clinical trial number: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03481855.
Copyright © 2023 European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.