Mottling score is a strong predictor of 14-day mortality in septic patients whatever vasopressor doses and other tissue perfusion parameters.

BACKGROUND: Mottling score, a tissue perfusion parameter, is correlated with outcome in septic shock patients. However, its predictive value on mortality according to prognostic covariates such as vasopressor dose and other tissue perfusion parameters remains unknown. METHODS: Mottling score and tissue perfusion parameters were recorded at ICU admission (H0), H-6, H 12, and H-24 and used to assess the predictive value of mottling score on 14-day mortality in a development cohort. Results were then validated in an independent cohort of septic shock patients in Brazil. RESULTS: Overall, 259 patients with sepsis or septic shock were included, 14-day mortality was 37%. Factors associated with death were mottling score (OR 2.26 [95% CI, 1.72-2.97]), arterial lactate level (OR 1.29 [1.11-1.5]), and urine output < 0.5 ml/Kg/h (OR 3.03 [1.37-6.69]). The C statistic for the model was 0.90 in the development cohort and 0.76 in the validation cohort. The predictive value of mottling score was not affected by vasopressor doses (p for interaction = 0.33): OR for mottling score ranged from 2.34 [1.10-3.15] in patients without vasopressor to 3.84 [1.98-7.43] in patients infused with high doses of vasopressor (> 0.8 µg/kg/min). There was no difference in the effect of mottling score on mortality according to mean arterial pressure, heart rate, cardiac index, and urine output, but we found a significant interaction between arterial lactate level and mottling score (p = 0.04). The predictive value of the mottling score remains significant when using the recent SEPSIS-3 definition of septic shock. Finally, a decrease of mottling score during resuscitation was significantly associated with better outcome after adjustment on SOFA score (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the high prognostic value of mottling score for 14-day mortality in septic patients, whatever vasopressor dosage and other perfusion parameters. Mottling score variations during resuscitation are also predictive of mortality.

Correlation of the EuroSCORE with the onset of postoperative acute kidney injury in cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the correlation between the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) score and the risk of developing acute kidney injury in cardiac surgery patients. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital on consecutive cardiac surgery patients (e.g., valvular, ischemic and congenital heart diseases) between October 2010 and July 2011. RESULTS: One hundred patients were assessed. Among the 100 patients, six were excluded, including five because of prior kidney disease or dialysis therapy and one because of incomplete medical records. The primary surgical indications were myocardial revascularization in 55 patients (58.5% of cases) and valve replacement in 28 patients (29.8%). According to the EuroSCORE, 55 patients were classified as high risk (58.5%), 27 patients as medium risk (28.7%) and 12 patients as low risk (12.8%). In the postoperative period, patients were classified with the Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss and End-stage kidney disease (RIFLE) score. Among the 31 patients (33%) who displayed an increase in serum creatinine, 18 patients (19.1%) were classified as RIFLE "R" (risk), seven patients (7.4%) were classified as RIFLE "I" (injury) and six patients (6.5%) were classified as RIFLE "F" (failure). Among the patients who were considered to be high risk according to the EuroSCORE criteria, 24 patients (43.6%) showed acute kidney injury. Among the patients who were classified as medium or low risk, acute kidney injury occurred in 18.5 and 16.6% of the cases, respectively. The correlations between risk stratification (low, medium and high) and the EuroSCORE and postoperative RIFLE scores were statistically significant (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: In the studied population, there was a statistically significant correlation between the EuroSCORE and the risk of developing acute kidney injury in the postoperative period after cardiac surgery.