A comparative study between terlipressin alone and dobutamine and terlipressin in septic shock patients

Background The use of terlipressin, a long-acting synthetic analog of vasopressin, is associated with reduction in cardiac output and oxygen delivery. The present study was designed to determine whether dobutamine may reverse the terlipressin-induced depression in central venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) in patients with catecholamine-dependent septic shock. Patients and methods This clinical trial was conducted in Ain Shams University hospital’s surgical ICU. In total, 90 septic shock patients requiring a continuous infusion of norepinephrine reaching 0.6 µg/kg/min to maintain mean arterial pressure at greater than or equal to 65 mmHg were randomly allocated to three groups be treated as follows: (i): group I, treated with norepinephrine infusion (control); (ii) group II, treated with a single bolus of terlipressin 1 mg, intravenous; (iii) and group III, treated with a single bolus of terlipressin 1 mg, followed by a dobutamine infusion. Results The use of terlipressin (with and without dobutamine) resulted in maintaining mean arterial pressure above 65 mmHg with reduction in norepinephrine requirements to 0.2 (0.1) µg/kg/min in group II and 0.15 (0.1) µg/kg/min in group III (P in each <0.001 vs. control at 2, 4, and 6 h). The use of terlipressin alone in group II resulted in a drop in central SvO2 to 58 (3)% (P<0.001 vs. control at 2, 4, and 6 h) and a decrease in heart rate to 105 beat/minute (7) (P vs. control=0.013 at 2 h, 0.001 at 4 h, and 0.01 at 6 h). The addition of dobutamine in group III resulted in an increase in central SvO2 to 70 (3)% (P<0.001 vs. group II at 2, 4, and 6 h). Conclusion Administration of terlipressin bolus was effective in increasing mean arterial blood pressure and reducing norepinephrine requirements in catecholamine-dependant septic shock patients. Its use was associated with significant reductions in central SvO2, which was reversed by using dobutamine.