Cardiothoracic & vascular anesthesia
Capillary refill time changes are associated with Vascular Waterfall response in post-cardiac surgery patients
Authors' conclusion
CRT changes are associated with vascular waterfall changes in post-cardiac surgery patients, primarily through the relationship with critical closing pressure rather than mean systemic filling pressure.
Study context
- Population
- Post-cardiac surgery patients with acute circulatory failure
- Participants
- 74 patients
- Comparison
- Vasoplegic vs Preload-dependent vs Cardiogenic
- Vasoplegicn = 30
- Preload-dependentn = 33
- Cardiogenicn = 11
- Primary endpoint
- Association between capillary refill time (CRT) changes and vascular waterfall (VW) changes during hemodynamic treatment
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Correlation of ΔCRT with ΔVW, entire cohort
Spearman ρ, ΔCRT vs ΔVW (entire cohort), p < 0.001
−0.40
ΔCRT independently predicted vascular waterfall (VW) response (multivariable logistic regression), OR per second, 95% CI 0.12-0.84, p = 0.021
0.31
Further findings
Baseline VW by baseline CRT · prolonged CRT n = 55
P = 0.014
Correlation of ΔCRT with ΔVW by phenotype (subgroup)
- Preload-dependent: ρ, p = 0.032
- −0.37
- Vasoplegic: ρ, p = 0.065
- −0.34
- Cardiogenic: ρ, p = 0.555
- −0.20
- Hemodynamic phenotype did not modify the association (p = 0.90)
- Interaction p = 0.90
Correlation of ΔCRT with VW components
- ΔCRT vs ΔPcc: ρ, p < 0.001
- −0.42
- ΔCRT vs ΔPmsf: ρ, p = 0.81
- −0.03
Original publication
Capillary refill time changes are associated with Vascular Waterfall response in post-cardiac surgery patients. Ann Intensive Care. Published 24 June 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →