Scandinavian SSAI clinical practice guideline on choice of inotropic agent for patients with acute circulatory failure

M H Møller, A Granholm, E Junttila, M Haney, A Oscarsson-Tibblin, A Haavind, J H Laake, E Wilkman, K Ö Sverrisson, A Perner

14 Citations (Scopus)
29 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adult critically ill patients often suffer from acute circulatory failure and those with low cardiac output may be treated with inotropic agents. The aim of this Scandinavian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine guideline was to present patient-important treatment recommendations on this topic.

METHODS: This guideline was developed according to GRADE. We assessed the following subpopulations of patients with shock: (1) shock in general, (2) septic shock, (3) cardiogenic shock, (4) hypovolemic shock, (5) shock after cardiac surgery, and (6) other types of shock, including vasodilatory shock. We assessed patient-important outcome measures, including mortality and serious adverse reactions.

RESULTS: For all patients, we suggest against the routine use of any inotropic agent, including dobutamine, as compared to placebo/no treatment (very low quality of evidence). For patients with shock in general, and in those with septic and other types of shock, we suggest using dobutamine rather than levosimendan or epinephrine (very low quality of evidence). For patients with cardiogenic shock and in those with shock after cardiac surgery, we suggest using dobutamine rather than milrinone (very low quality of evidence). For the other clinical questions, we refrained from giving any recommendations or suggestions.

CONCLUSIONS: We suggest against the routine use of any inotropic agent in adult patients with shock. If used, we suggest using dobutamine rather than other inotropic agents for the majority of patients, however, the quality of evidence was very low, implying high uncertainty on the balance between the benefits and harms of inotropic agents.

Original languageEnglish
JournalActa Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
Volume62
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)420-450
Number of pages31
ISSN0001-5172
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2018

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