Upregulation of Alpha-1 Receptors Upon Septic Shock?
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2014-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The hallmarks of septic shock are hypovolemia and reduced pressor response to endogenous
noradrenaline. The working hypothesis is that the higher the plasma concentration of
endogenous noradrenaline will be, the lower the pressor response to exogenous noradrenaline
will be. This will be tested in patients presenting with septic shock, following state of the
art management (including repeated assessment of vena cava diameter and compliance, and
response to dynamic indices of loading) following placebo vs clonidine administration (1
mcg.kg-1.h-1 over 24 h without bolus) and administration of increasing doses of noradrenaline
(1 mcg, 2 mcg, etc. up to a delta systolic blood pressure circa 25-30 mm Hg).