Circulatory sequelae of administering cpap in hyperdynamic sepsis are time-dependent. Fox, George A., Calvin J. Lam, William B. Darragh, Andrea M. Neal, Kevin J. Inman, Frank S. Rutledge, William J. Sibbald. The A.C. Burton Vascular Biology Laboratory, Victoria Hospital Research Institute and The Program in Critical Care, Departments of Medicine and Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
APStracts 3:0137A, 1996.
Evidence questions the circulation's ability to acutely compensate for abrupt changes in O2 delivery (QO2). As both sepsis and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may alter the metabolic regulation of tissue oxygenation, we designed an experiment to determine the interaction, if any, between sepsis and time on circulatory homeostasis following the application of CPAP. Twenty-four sheep were randomized to cecal ligation and perforation (CLP) or SHAM procedure (SHAM), and then re-randomized to receive either CPAP (10 mmHg) or NO CPAP (CLP/CPAP, n=8; CLP/NO CPAP, n=8; SHAM/CPAP, n=4; SHAM/NO CPAP, n=4). Forty-eight hours later, CLP animals demonstrated an elevated cardiac index (+63%), systemic O2 delivery (+49%) and systemic O2 uptake (+28%). Organ blood flow (Q), measured with radiolabelled microspheres, was augmented to the heart and depressed in organs comprising the splanchnic circulation. Compared to the CLP/NO CPAP group and both SHAM groups, myocardial QO2 in the CLP/CPAP group was significantly elevated when measured both 2 and 8 hours following CPAP. These changes were unrelated to differences in mean heart work between the study groups. Simultaneously, QO2 to all of the small gut, large gut, pancreas, and kidney in the CLP/CPAP group was elevated during the 2 hour study, yet reverted to levels not different from baseline by the 8 hour study. These data demonstrate (i) a unique sepsis x time interaction with the use of 10 mmHg of CPAP, particularly in the "non-vital" circulations, and (ii) CPAP effects on the septic coronary circulation which were unexplained by changes in external determinants of myocardial O2 need.

Received 2 December 1994; accepted in final form 9 February 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A1226-4.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 20 March 96