Clinical Research on Shenfu Injection in Septic Patients

Summary

Sepsis, characterized by organ dysfunction caused by infection, exhibits increasing incidence and mortality rates, posing a significant challenge to intensive care units. Early-stage sepsis involves hemodynamic disturbances, and severe and complex microcirculatory impairments can result in tissue hypoxia and accelerate organ dysfunction. Modern medical research has indicated that the effective and rapid restoration of microcirculatory function, along with the correction of microcirculatory disorders, is a crucial aspect in the treatment of sepsis. Current guidelines recommend the use of vasoactive drugs to address hemodynamic disturbances, but their administration may further damage the microcirculation. Additionally, in patients with severe sepsis, there often exists a disparity between macrocirculatory and microcirculatory hemodynamics, and conventional clinical indicators fail to directly reflect the level of microcirculatory perfusion. Chinese guidelines have incorporated the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, offering a new therapeutic approach to ameliorate microcirculatory impairments. This study aims to include patients with sepsis and administer Shenfu Injection via intravenous therapy. Tongue microcirculation assessment will be employed to evaluate changes in microvascular health scores, while transcutaneous oxygen and carbon dioxide pressure alterations, as well as serum lactate level variations, will be monitored to ascertain the effects of Shenfu Injection on improving early-stage microcirculatory impairments and microvascular leakage in sepsis patients. This research will clarify the clinical efficacy of Shenfu Injection in sepsis patients with microcirculatory impairments, provide evidence-based medicine and clinical evidence for TCM treatment of sepsis, and offer a solid foundation for refining sepsis treatment strategies with distinct Chinese characteristics.

Timeline

Start

2023-12-01

Primary completion

2025-09-01

Completion

2026-01-01

Publications

• Background Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW, Shankar-Hari M, Annane D, Bauer M, Bellomo R, Bernard GR, Chiche JD, Coopersmith CM, Hotchkiss RS, Levy MM, Marshall JC, Martin GS, Opal SM, Rubenfeld GD, van der Poll T, Vincent JL, Angus DC. The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016 Feb 23;315(8):801-10. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.0287.
• Results Gutterman DD, Chabowski DS, Kadlec AO, Durand MJ, Freed JK, Ait-Aissa K, Beyer AM. The Human Microcirculation: Regulation of Flow and Beyond. Circ Res. 2016 Jan 8;118(1):157-72. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.305364.
• Results Tian R, Wang X, Pan T, Li R, Wang J, Liu Z, Chen E, Mao E, Tan R, Chen Y, Liu J, Qu H. Plasma PTX3, MCP1 and Ang2 are early biomarkers to evaluate the severity of sepsis and septic shock. Scand J Immunol. 2019 Dec;90(6):e12823. doi: 10.1111/sji.12823. Epub 2019 Oct 7.
• Results Tian R, Li R, Liu Y, Liu J, Pan T, Zhang R, Liu B, Chen E, Tang Y, Qu H. Metformin ameliorates endotoxemia-induced endothelial pro-inflammatory responses via AMPK-dependent mediation of HDAC5 and KLF2. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2019 Jun 1;1865(6):1701-1712. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2019.04.009. Epub 2019 Apr 16.
• Results Yao B, Liu DW, Chai WZ, Wang XT, Zhang HM. Microcirculation dysfunction in endotoxic shock rabbits is associated with impaired S-nitrosohemoglobin-mediated nitric oxide release from red blood cells: a preliminary study. Intensive Care Med Exp. 2019 Jan 7;7(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s40635-018-0215-0.
• Results Otero RM, Nguyen HB, Huang DT, Gaieski DF, Goyal M, Gunnerson KJ, Trzeciak S, Sherwin R, Holthaus CV, Osborn T, Rivers EP. Early goal-directed therapy in severe sepsis and septic shock revisited: concepts, controversies, and contemporary findings. Chest. 2006 Nov;130(5):1579-95. doi: 10.1378/chest.130.5.1579.
• Results Fan KL, Wang JH, Kong L, Zhang FH, Hao H, Zhao H, Tian ZY, Yin MX, Fang H, Yang HH, Liu Y. Effect of Shen-Fu Injection () on Hemodynamics in Early Volume Resuscitation Treated Septic Shock Patients. Chin J Integr Med. 2019 Jan;25(1):59-63. doi: 10.1007/s11655-017-2965-z. Epub 2017 Oct 6.
• Results Zhang XJ, Song L, Zhou ZG, Wang XM. Effect of shenfu injection on gastrointestinal microcirculation in rabbits after myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. World J Gastroenterol. 2006 Jul 21;12(27):4389-91. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i27.4389.
• Results Zhang X, Guo T, Zhang K, Guo W, An X, Gao P. Effect of shenfu injection on microcirculation in shock patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Oct 23;99(43):e22872. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000022872.
• Results Ince C. Hemodynamic coherence and the rationale for monitoring the microcirculation. Crit Care. 2015;19 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S8. doi: 10.1186/cc14726. Epub 2015 Dec 18.

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