Cardiac dysfunction is common in patients with sepsis.
Though mulitiple definitions exist, sepsis cardiomyopathy (SCM) is generally defined as an "acute syndrome of cardiac dysfunction that is unrelated to ischemia in patients with sepsis".
Depending on the study, the incidence of SCM ranges anwywhere from 7% to 70%.
Risk factors for SCM include:
Male
Younger age
High lactate at admission
History of heart failure
The best approach to treating patients with SCM is to maximize your treatment of sepsis.
Dobutamine is no longer routinely recommended for SCM based solely on measurements of ScvO2.
References
Beesley S, et al. Septic cardiomyopathy. Crit Care Med 2018. [epub ahead of print]
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