Prediction of fluid responsiveness in ventilated critically ill patients

In critical care, hemodynamic monitoring has been extensively studied over the last decades as an essential tool to improve patients’ outcomes. Hemodynamic optimization is the key to provide the supply of oxygen and metabolic substrates to tissues according to their metabolic needs. Obtaining hemodynamic stabilization is particularly challenging in the context of circulatory shock. Distinguishing patients which are going to benefit from fluid resuscitation, from others for which administration of large amounts of fluids is detrimental is of paramount importance. Numerous techniques aimed at demonstrate fluid responsiveness in the critically ill patients have been developed over the years. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the various static and dynamic measurements used to study fluid responsiveness in critically ill patients with cardiocirculatory shock.