Study of metabolic acidosis in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock

Metabolic disturbances are very frequent among critical care patients. Severe sepsis and septic shock are clinical conditions responsible for a great number of patients admitted to ICU. Severe sepsis and septic shock mortality rates remain high instead of new approaches developed in last decades. Intensive glycemic control appeared to be an important adjuvant therapy, especially among surgical intensive care patients. There are still some controversies about the benefits of intensive glycemic control among clinical intensive care patients. Beyond hyperglycemia, some studies have tried to associate lipid metabolism disturbances to worse prognosis. There are also descriptions of association between hyperglycemia and lower lipoproteins levels, suggesting the possible positive effects of intensive glycemic control and better control of lipid disturbances. In this study, we collected sequential serum LDL, HDL, triglycerides, total cholesterol, free fatty acids and Ox-LDL for 63 patients diagnosed as severe sepsis or septic shock admitted to ICU, in the first 72 hours after beginning of the symptoms. Patients were randomly allocated into two different groups, one for intensive glycemic control and the other maintaining more liberal glycemic levels. RESULTS: Serum levels of LDL, HDL, and total cholesterol were below levels considered normal in both groups. Contrary, serum levels of free fatty acids, triglycerides and Ox-LDL were above normal levels in both groups. Along initial 72 hours we noticed a clear increase in LDL serum levels and decrease in free fatty acids serum levels more pronounced in the intensive glycemic control group. Survivors needed less dosages of exogenous insulin, despite of similar glycemic levels. Serum levels of Ox-LDL, LDL, HDL and CRP were similiar for survivors and non-survivors.