Infection
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Peripheral oxygen availability within skeletal muscle in sepsis and septic shock: comparison to limited infection and cardiogenic shock.
In 40 intensive care patients, tissue oxygen partial pressure distribution within skeletal muscle was measured in order to estimate peripheral oxygen availability. In septic patients with multiple organ failure (n = 20) mean skeletal muscle pO2 was abnormally high (48.8 +/- 8.5 mmHg, p less than 0.001) in contrast to patients with limited infection without sepsis (28.3 +/- 5.9 mmHg, n = 10). ⋯ In our patients in severe stage of sepsis, we did not observe local skeletal muscle hypoxia due to microcirculatory disorder. High mean skeletal muscle pO2 suggested reduced oxygen consumption within tissue rather than reduced oxygen transport to tissue in sepsis.