Upregulation of Alpha-1 Receptors Upon Septic Shock?

Summary

The hallmarks of septic shock are hypovolemia and reduced pressor response to endogenous noradrenaline. The working hypothesis is that the higher the plasma concentration of endogenous noradrenaline will be, the lower the pressor response to exogenous noradrenaline will be. This will be tested in patients presenting with septic shock, following state of the art management (including repeated assessment of vena cava diameter and compliance, and response to dynamic indices of loading) following placebo vs clonidine administration (1 mcg.kg-1.h-1 over 24 h without bolus) and administration of increasing doses of noradrenaline (1 mcg, 2 mcg, etc. up to a delta systolic blood pressure circa 25-30 mm Hg).

Timeline

Start

2013-08

Primary completion

2013-08

Completion

2014-09

Drugs

Indications