Prognostic value of Doppler waveform analysis of common femoral vein in septic patients: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

bjectives: To assess whether there is an association between abnormal common femoral vein (CFV) Doppler waveform and intensive care unit (ICU) mortality in patients with sepsis.

Methods: Patients admitted to the ICU with sepsis were included. Pulsed-wave Doppler was performed by examining the CFV in the short axis without angle correction and in the long axis with angle correction. An abnormal CFV Doppler waveform was determined by a retrograde velocity peak (RVP) > 10 cm/s in the long axis or RVP > 50% of the antegrade velocity peak in the short axis. TAPSE < 17 mm was defined as right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. The primary outcome was ICU mortality.

Results: One hundred and ten patients were included. There was no association between abnormal CFV Doppler waveforms in the long (p = 0.709) and short axes (p = 0.171) and ICU mortality. TAPSE measurements were performed in 16 patients. RV dysfunction was identified in 8 (50.0%) patients. There was no association between the diagnosis of RV dysfunction based on TAPSE measurement and the identification of abnormal CFV Doppler waveforms in the long axis (p = 1.000) and in the short axis (p = 1.000).

Conclusion: Abnormal CFV Doppler waveforms were not associated with ICU mortality in patients with sepsis. Furthermore, in the exploratory analysis, these alterations were not useful in identifying RV dysfunction in these patients.