Microcirculatory effects of fluid therapy and dopamine, associated or not to fluid therapy, in endotoxemic hamsters.

Classically septic shock treatment takes into consideration only systemic parameters but failure in retaining arteriolar blood flow and functional capillary density (FCD) during sepsis worsens the outcome. Thus, we have investigated the effects of vigorous volume resuscitation (VR), two doses of dopamine and their combination upon the microcirculation during endotoxemia to evaluate if improvement on FCD and arteriolar blood flow would increase survival time. Sixty-seven adult male hamsters were studied using the window chamber model.