The Vitamin C, Hydrocortisone and Thiamine in Patients With Septic Shock Trial

Summary

Sepsis has been characterised as a dysregulated host response to infection. Adjunctive therapies targeting the inflammatory cascade are being increasingly explored, although to date, have failed to demonstrate consistent benefit, and sepsis continues to manifest poor outcomes. Hospital mortality in patients with septic shock remains as high as 22% in Australia and New Zealand. From a global perspective, 31 million sepsis and 19 million severe sepsis cases are expected to be treated in hospitals all over the world per year. To date, experimental data have reported that both high dose intravenous vitamin C and corticosteroids attenuate the acceleration of the inflammatory cascade and possibly reduce the endothelial injury characteristic of sepsis, enhance the release of endogenous catecholamines and improve vasopressor responsiveness. Therefore, the investigators plan to conduct a feasibility pilot prospective, multi-centre, randomised, open-label, trial in ICU patients with septic shock to test whether the intravenous administration of high dose Vitamin C (6g/d), Thiamine (400mg/d) and Hydrocortisone (200mg/d) leads to a more rapid resolution shock and vasopressor dependence.

Timeline

Start

2018-05-02

Primary completion

2019-07-16

Completion

2019-10-06

Publications

• Fujii T, Luethi N, Young PJ, Frei DR, Eastwood GM, French CJ, Deane AM, Shehabi Y, Hajjar LA, Oliveira G, Udy AA, Orford N, Edney SJ, Hunt AL, Judd HL, Bitker L, Cioccari L, Naorungroj T, Yanase F, Bates S, McGain F, Hudson EP, Al-Bassam W, Dwivedi DB, Peppin C, McCracken P, Orosz J, Bailey M, Bellomo R; VITAMINS Trial Investigators. Effect of Vitamin C, Hydrocortisone, and Thiamine vs Hydrocortisone Alone on Time Alive and Free of Vasopressor Support Among Patients With Septic Shock: The VITAMINS Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2020 Feb 4;323(5):423-431. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.22176.
• Fujii T, Udy AA, Deane AM, Luethi N, Bailey M, Eastwood GM, Frei D, French C, Orford N, Shehabi Y, Young PJ, Bellomo R; VITAMINS trial investigators. Vitamin C, Hydrocortisone and Thiamine in Patients with Septic Shock (VITAMINS) trial: study protocol and statistical analysis plan. Crit Care Resusc. 2019 Jun;21(2):119-125.

Drugs

Indications