Reply to: Perfusion index for assessing microvascular reactivity in septic shock after fluid resuscitation - Critical Care Science (CCS)

Reply to: Perfusion index for assessing microvascular reactivity in septic shock after fluid resuscitation |

To the Editor

We thank Drs Daş, Bardakc and Beyazıt for their insightful comments on our recent article in " Revista Brasileira de Terapia Intensiva " regarding the clinical use of the perfusion index (PI) to assess microvascular reactivity in septic shock.⁽⁾ As they highlighted in their letter, some factors can potentially influence the evaluation of perfusion index. As previously cited the PI is very sensitive to sympathetic stimuli.⁽⁾ This was confirmed by our results, which showed a positive correlation of PI values after vascular reactivity tests with noradrenaline doses. The ambient temperature is another important factor, since cutaneous tissue, whose microcirculation is evaluated by PI, is also important in thermoregulation and influenced by sympathetic stimuli.⁽⁾ As reported in the study, all patients were evaluated under controlled temperature (25°C) in order to reduce the influence of this factor.

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