Deutsch-österreichische S3-Leitlinie „Infarktbedingter kardiogener Schock – Diagnose, Monitoring und Therapie“

[Cardiac hemodynamics during shock : Management in daily clinical routine]

In caring for critically ill patients, a sophisticated approach to treating hemodynamic instability in acute circulatory failure is a major concern of modern critical care. Depending on the form of shock-distributive, cardiogenic, hypovolemic or obstructive, with the possibility of overlapping forms of shock-preload, afterload, cardiac output, and contractility are altered in various ways. Modern critical care uses hemodynamic monitoring and bedside echocardiography in addition to clinical evaluation to treat the underlying cause and sequelae of shock. Fluid therapy taking volume responsiveness and need for volume into account, vasopressor therapy taking microcirculatory derangement into account, and therapy using inotropes, sometimes in combination with vasodilators are the cornerstones of critical care treatment in this regard. Preload, afterload, cardiac output, and contractility must thereby be evaluated and treated in a patient- and situation-specific manner.

[Echocardiography in emergency admissions. Recognition of cardiac low-output failure]

Detection of acute cardiac dysfunction and differential diagnosis of low cardiac output syndrome is challenging for emergency physicians. For the critical ill patient it is essential to rapidly identify the underlying disease to initiate the correct therapy and optimize patient outcome. Echocardiography is the diagnostic tool of choice for the evaluation of low cardiac output states. In the setting of the emergency department the use of focused echocardiography instead of detailed echocardiographic studies of cardiologists is appropriate and should be provided for emergency care. The differentiation in preserved versus reduced left ventricular ejection fraction as a first assessment is helpful, particularly for physicians not well trained in echocardiography. The structured and focused approach to evaluate or exclude differential diagnoses of cardiac dysfunction is the key for optimal management of acute and critically ill patients with low cardiac output.