Early Administration of Norepinephrine in Sepsis (Tunisian Multicenter Randomized Trial)

Sepsis is characterized by systemic inflammation induced by a severe infection resulting in an inappropriate host response against that infection. On the microcirculatory scale, vasoplegia with capillary leakage is distinguished. Management of sepsis includes, in addition to specific treatment which includes antimicrobials and eradication of the source, restoration of hemodynamic disorders and assistance to failing organs. In general, the restoration of hemodynamic disorders begins first with volume expansion, followed by the use of vasopressors (mainly norepinephrine: NE as first-line therapy) when the mean arterial pressure target (MAP: reflecting the perfusion pressure organs) is not reached after optimizing the intravascular volume.

Recently, several studies have supported the benefit of administering NE at the start of resuscitation of sepsis. Indeed, its administration at an earlier phase than usually recommended improved MAP and cardiac output with a favorable effect on mortality. At a median interval of 1.3 hours from ICU admission and exclusive administration of NE, MAP was adequately restored within a relatively short time (30 min) and was associated with a better survival rate than that predicted by the severity scores of similar patients from other series reported in the literature. In the recent Thai "CENSER" trial, shock was controlled in 76% of patients in the early NE group versus 48% (p<0.001). On the other hand, the administration of a large quantity of fluids inevitably increases the risk of fluid overload, which is a frequent complication in septic patients. In front of all these arguments, it is therefore tempting to restrict fluid administration even to the initial phase of the hemodynamic management of sepsis by starting NE earlier.