Sepsis treatment
Haemodynamic monitoring in sepsis treatment
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines advocate for the use of advanced haemodynamic variables alongside clinical assessment to guide resuscitation in children with septic shock or sepsis-associated organ dysfunction. In this article, James Leek explains why advanced haemodynamic monitoring is so important during sepsis treatment.
According to the UK Sepsis Trust, sepsis claims more lives than breast, bowel and prostate cancer put together. It reports that there are at least 200,000 episodes of sepsis in adults in the UK each year and potentially as many as 918,000 (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2022). Around 48,000 people die from the condition.1 Defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction
due to a dysregulated host response to infection, sepsis can lead to the malfunction of organs, septic shock and death. Early detection and prompt management are therefore crucial to improving survival rates and supporting critical care teams. In this feature, James Leek, at Vygon UK
explores the role advanced haemodynamic monitoring can play in sepsis treatment, specifically its benefits in providing in-depth patient insights and the management of timely and accurate fluid resuscitation.
Sepsis identification and cardiac output Early identification of sepsis and immediate intervention is vital to determine severity of the condition and for patient survival. The UK Sepsis Trust’s ‘Sepsis Six Care Bundle’ outlines six key tasks to be completed within one hour of diagnosis, which are proven to significantly reduce mortality rates. These include oxygen administration, blood cultures, antibiotic initiation, fluid resuscitation, lactate measurement, and urine output monitoring. Step five, fluid resuscitation, is key to
improving tissue oxygen delivery in sepsis, and cardiac output provides key data for
calculating oxygen delivery to demonstrate the effectiveness of fluid therapy. Cardiac output reveals the amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute and is calculated by multiplying stroke volume (amount of blood ejected per heartbeat) by heart rate.
Why advanced haemodynamic monitoring matters in sepsis Haemodynamic instability is a trademark of sepsis and septic shock, where rapid physiological changes can lead to multi- organ dysfunction or death, if not addressed promptly. Being able to continuously monitor cardiovascular output in real time is paramount – allowing clinicians to detect subtle deterioration earlier and make life-saving decisions with greater precision. Compared to some conventional tools that
Haemodynamic instability is a trademark of sepsis and septic shock, where rapid physiological changes can lead to multi-organ dysfunction or death, if not addressed promptly.
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www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I September 2025
only provide snapshot measurements, advanced haemodynamic technology offers continuous, beat-to-beat insight into parameters such as cardiac output, stroke volume, and systemic vascular resistance. These indicators, including stroke volume variation (SVV) and pulse pressure variation (PPV), help determine fluid responsiveness and guide the balance between resuscitation and the risk of fluid overload. This level of insight is particularly vital in the early phases of sepsis, where clinical signs may be subtle. A 2020 study published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia concluded that real-time monitoring is essential for identifying reversible cardiovascular derangements and guiding therapy before permanent damage occurs.2 A key feature of Vygon’s Mostcare Up
technology is that it’s a minimally invasive haemodynamic monitoring system. Designed to provide real-time information about a patient’s haemodynamic status, it allows clinicians to make informed decisions regarding fluid management, cardiovascular performance, and other critical aspects of patient care. It is a pulse contour method of cardiac monitoring, calculating cardiac output beat-by-beat, by
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