Evaluation for occult sepsis incorporating NIRS and emergency sonography.

PURPOSE: We aim to determine whether the combination of regional tissue oxygen saturation (StO2 ) measurement using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), inferior vena cava (IVC) collapsibility and ejection fraction (EF) is able to detect occult sepsis.

METHODS: We included adult patients in the emergency department with at least one of the following: fever; any one component of the quick sepsis-related organ function assessment (SOFA) score; heart rate≥100 beats per minute; or white cell count <4.0×109 /L or >12.0×109 /L. StO2 parameters, IVC collapsibility and EF were assessed. Primary outcome was composite of admission to intensive care unit, hypotension requiring fluid resuscitation or vasopressor use, and antibiotic escalation.

RESULTS: We included 184 patients with mean age of 55.4years and slight male predominance (51.6%). Increase in temperature (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16 to 8.02), higher white cell counts (aOR 1.10; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.19), increase in time taken to new StO2 baseline (aOR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.06) and reduced EF (aOR 33.9; 95% CI 2.19 to 523.64) had higher odds of achieving the primary outcome.

CONCLUSION: Change in StO2 and time taken to reach new StO2 baseline, combined with EF could potentially predict sepsis among patients with infection.