High Dose Intravenous Ascorbic Acid in Severe Sepsis
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2017-11-23
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Despite an organized treatment approach outlined in expert-consensus guidelines for sepsis
with fluid resuscitation to treat hypovolemia, antibiotics to target the infectious insult,
and vasopressors for hypotension, mortality rates for sepsis remain high and the incidence
continues to rise, making sepsis the most expensive inpatient disease.
1. Recent research has described the therapeutic benefits associated with ascorbic acid
treatment for sepsis.
2. Researchers objectives are to perform a randomized-controlled clinical trial
investigating the ability of ascorbic acid(vitamin C) administration to decrease organ
dysfunction in severe sepsis. The widespread occurrence of microvascular dysfunction in
sepsis leading to tissue hypoxia, mitochondrial dysfunction, and adenosine triphosphate
(ATP) depletion, gives rise to organ failure.
3. Patients with organ failure and sepsis (severe sepsis) are at a higher risk of death
than patients with organ failure alone. Critically ill patients may have an increased
requirement for ascorbic acid in sepsis and these patients frequently have levels below
normal. Ascorbic acid administration, has been shown to correlate inversely with organ
failure (human literature) and directly with survival (animal studies).
4,5 Intravenous ascorbic acid therapy decreases organ failure by providing a protective
effect on several microvascular functions including improving capillary blood flow,
decreasing microvascular permeability, and improving arteriolar responsiveness to
vasoconstrictors. Defining the utility of novel agents to augment researchers care for severe
sepsis is an important task as investigators continue the institutional focus on sepsis care.