The results of ProCESS (Protocolized Care for Early Septic Shock) were presented at the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine in Brussels this week and have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)
ProCESS was conducted in 31 emergency departments in large, urban academic hospitals in the US. Eligible patients were randomised to either:
1. Protocol-based, early goal-directed therapy,
2. Protocol-based standard therapy (did not require CVC, inotropes, blood transfusion)
3. Standard care.
There was no difference between the arms in in-hospital mortality at 60-days (primary outcome), defined as the number of deaths prior to discharge from hospital or 60 days, whichever came first. There was also no significant difference in 90-day mortality between the arms.
It is unclear if these results are relevant to UK practice. The ProMISe trial, due to finish recruitment in August should help shed some light.