Increased endogenous carbon monoxide production in severe sepsis

• DOI: 10.1007/s00134-002-1269-7
• Publication Date: 2003-01-16T20:59:55Z
• Authors: Rachid Zegdi; Dominique Perrin; Michèle Burdin; Richard Boiteau; Alain Tenaillon
• Keywords: Male; 0301 basic medicine; Analysis of Variance; Carbon Monoxide; 0303 health sciences; Comorbidity; 3. Good health; Oxidative Stress; 03 medical and health sciences; Breath Tests; Case-Control Studies; Sepsis; Humans; Female; Prospective Studies; APACHE; Aged

A comparison was made between the endogenous carbon monoxide (CO) production in mechanically ventilated critically ill adult patients with, and those without, severe sepsis.Prospective comparative study.Medical ICU in a community hospital.Twenty-four patients with severe sepsis of various etiologies and five control patients with varying diagnoses.CO concentration was determined with an infrared CO analyzer on exhaled breath collected at the outlet of the ventilator. Endogenous CO production was estimated by the lung CO excretion rate measured at steady state.: Endogenous CO production was higher in the sepsis group during the first 3 days of treatment in comparison to the control group (10.9+/-5 (SD) microl/kg per h on day 1, 7.8+/-4.9 microl/kg per h on day 2 and 6.9+/-4.7 microl/kg per h on day 3 versus 2.1+/-0.5 microl/kg per h; p<0.01 for each comparison). Survivors of sepsis had a significantly higher endogenous CO production on day 1 compared to non-survivors (14.7+/-5.3 versus 8.5+/-3.3 microl/kg per h; p=0.02).Endogenous CO production was significantly higher in mechanically ventilated patients suffering from severe sepsis. Further studies are required in order to determine the mechanism(s) and the functional significance of this increase.