American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Sep 2016
Potentially Inadvertent Immunomodulation: Norepinephrine Use in Sepsis.
Septic shock is a major cause of death worldwide and a considerable healthcare burden in the twenty-first century. Attention has shifted from damaging effects of the proinflammatory response to the detrimental role of antiinflammation, a phenomenon known as sepsis-induced immunoparalysis. Sepsis-induced immunoparalysis may render patients vulnerable to secondary infections and is associated with impaired outcome. ⋯ Alternatives such as vasopressin/selepressin, angiotensin II, and phenylephrine could have a fundamental advantage over norepinephrine with respect to their immunologic properties. However, also for these agents, in vivo immunologic data in humans are largely lacking. As such, human studies on the immunomodulatory properties of norepinephrine and viable alternatives are highly warranted.