Peripheral microcirculatory alterations are associated with the severity of acute respiratory distress syndrome in COVID-19 patients admitted to intermediate respiratory and intensive care units
Jaume Mesquida, Alba Caballer, Lorenzo Cortese, C. Vilà, Umut Karadeniz, Marco Pagliazzi, Marta Zanoletti, Argelia Pérez Pacheco, Pedro Castro, Marina García-de-Acilu, Rickson C. Mesquita, David R. Busch, Turgut Durduran, Turgut Durduran, Marco Pagliazzi, Lorenzo Cortese, Marta Zanoletti, Umut Karadeniz, Jaume Mesquida, Alba Caballer, Sara Nogales, C. Espinal, Guillem Gruartmoner, Puri Pérez Terán, C. Vilà, Lucía Picazo, Ricard Ferrer, Marina García de Acilu, Luis Chiscano‐Camón, Abraham Mera, Pedro Castro, Adrián Téllez, Sara Fernández, Ana Matas, Fernando Fuentes, Isabel Serra, David Romero, Francesc Font, T.G. Myers, David R. Busch, Siddharth Dave, Sreekanth Cheruku, Christopher Choi, Peiman Lahsaei, DaiWai M. Olson, Argelia Pérez Pacheco, Rosa María Quispe Siccha, Eduardo Licéaga, Félix Jerandy Monte De Oca Hernández, Bruno Adler Maccagnan Pinheiro Besen, Leandro Utino Taniguchi, Pedro Vitale Mendes, Rickson C. Mesquita, Andrés Quiroga, Ítalo Karmann Aventurato, Laís Bacchin de Oliveira, Lilian Elisabete Bernardes Delazari, Lígia dos Santos, Roceto Ratti, Antônio Luís Eiras Falcão, Judith Marín‐Corral, Raúl Serrano‐Loyola, Verónica Carbajal-Robles, Enrique Santillán-Aguayo, Melvin Parada-Guzmán, Rodrigo M. Forti, Luis Bacchin, Gabriela Lívio-Emidio
Abstract
Abstract Background COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory disease; however, there is also evidence that it causes endothelial damage in the microvasculature of several organs. The aim of the present study is to characterize in vivo the microvascular reactivity in peripheral skeletal muscle of severe COVID-19 patients. Methods This is a prospective observational study carried out in Spain, Mexico and Brazil. Healthy subjects and severe COVID-19 patients admitted to the intermediate respiratory (IRCU) and intensive care units (ICU) due to hypoxemia were studied. Local tissue/blood oxygen saturation (StO 2 ) and local hemoglobin concentration (THC) were non-invasively measured on the forearm by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). A vascular occlusion test (VOT), a three-minute induced ischemia, was performed in order to obtain dynamic StO 2 parameters: deoxygenation rate (DeO 2 ), reoxygenation rate (ReO 2 ), and hyperemic response (H AUC ). In COVID-19 patients, the severity of ARDS was evaluated by the ratio between peripheral arterial oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) and the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO 2 ) (SF ratio). Results Healthy controls (32) and COVID-19 patients (73) were studied. Baseline StO 2 and THC did not differ between the two groups. Dynamic VOT-derived parameters were significantly impaired in COVID-19 patients showing lower metabolic rate (DeO 2 ) and diminished endothelial reactivity. At enrollment, most COVID-19 patients were receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) (53%) or high-flow nasal cannula support (32%). Patients on MV were also receiving sedative agents (100%) and vasopressors (29%). Baseline StO 2 and DeO 2 negatively correlated with SF ratio, while ReO 2 showed a positive correlation with SF ratio. There were significant differences in baseline StO 2 and ReO 2 among the different ARDS groups according to SF ratio, but not among different respiratory support therapies. Conclusion Patients with severe COVID-19 show systemic microcirculatory alterations suggestive of endothelial dysfunction, and these alterations are associated with the severity of ARDS. Further evaluation is needed to determine whether these observations have prognostic implications. These results represent interim findings of the ongoing HEMOCOVID-19 trial. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04689477 . Retrospectively registered 30 December 2020.