Heart rate reduction with esmolol in septic shock: effects on microcirculation

Preclinical and clinical studies report that β-blockers may be an interesting option to attenuate the deleterious effects of prolonged catecholamine exposure during septic shock. Nevertheless, there are concerns that β-blockers may have negative chronotropic and inotropic effects leading to inappropriately low cardiac output. The objective of the present study was therefore to elucidate whether a reduction in heart rate (HR) with esmolol may negatively affect microcirculation in patients with septic shock who remained tachycardic after hemodynamic optimization.