Background: Extracorporeal blood purification therapies have been proposed as a strategy to remove inflammatory mediators during sepsis, thus improving outcome. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate changes in cytokines, haemodynamics and microcirculation during blood purification with Cytosorb adsorber in septic patients. Methods: Prospective observational study on critically ill adult patients with sepsis/septic shock underwent renal replacement therapy (RRT) for acute renal failure and haemoadsorption with Cytosorb as adjunctive therapy for 24 h. Measurements were taken at baseline, after 6 and 24 h: haemodynamic parameters, arterial and central venous blood gases, plasma levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin (IL) 1-beta, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10. The sublingual microcirculation was assessed with sidestream dark field videomicroscopy to evaluate the perfused vessel density (PVD) and microvascular flow quality. Tissue oxygenation and microvascular reactivity were assessed with thenar near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with a vascular occlusion test. Results: Nine patients; plasma levels of IL-8 decreased at 24 h (p < 0.05 versus 6 h); no significant variation was found for other cytokines. Haemodynamic remained stable throughout the observation. Microvascular perfusion improved over time, with an increase in PVDs at 6 and 24 h (from 13.9 [13.3–16.4] to 15.7 [15–17.3] and 17 [14.8–18.6] mm/mm2 respectively, p = 0.003) and total vessel densities at 24 h (14.9 [13.9–16.9] vs. 17.9 [15.3–20], p = 0.0015). No significant variation was detected in NIRS-derived parameters. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score decreased from 12 ± 3 to 10 ± 1 at 24 h (p = 0.039). Conclusions: In septic patients undergoing RRT, haemoadsorption with Cytosorb seems to determine a decreasing in plasma levels of IL-8, although levels of other cytokines did not vary significantly, and an improvement of microcirculation despite no significant variation in macro-haemodynamics.

Keywords:
Blood purification, Cytokines, Haemoadsorption, Sepsis, Septic shock, Sorbents, Sublingual microcirculation
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