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REVIEW article

Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Critical Care
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1530984

The Resuscitation, Equilibrium and De-escalation (RED) strategy: a phased, personalized hemodynamic support in children with sepsis

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Cardioinfantil Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 2 Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia
  • 3 Apollo Children's Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 4 Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 5 Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • 6 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 7 Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 8 National University of the Northeast, Corrientes, Corrientes, Argentina
  • 9 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hemodynamic support in critically ill children with septic shock is a pervasive challenge in the intensive care settings. Cardiovascular involvement in sepsis entails both macro-and microcirculation abnormalities, with the main treatment objectives seeking to increase cardiac output and improve tissue perfusion, respectively. Fluid therapy and vasoactive drugs are cornerstone therapies for circulatory problems in sepsis. Fluid boluses are a common first-line treatment for actual and relative hypovolemia. However, their use has been linked to adverse events due to factors such as their composition, high volumes and rapid infusion rates, and the variable response of individual patients. Furthermore, they often have transient efficacy or lack of response in many patients. Vasoactive drugs are also often used late, which favors repetitive fluid boluses, leading to hypervolemia, tissue edema and worse outcomes. After the resuscitation phase, active fluid removal through diuresis or dialysis is increasingly being used in patients who receive fluid therapy, but it has not yet been standardized, and the safest and most effective strategies in children are still not known. We believe that these interventions for hemodynamic problems in sepsis offer an opportunity to personalize treatment and apply precision medicine strategies. Using a phased approach adapted to each patient's context and clinical condition can potentially improve outcomes. The proposed Resuscitation, Equilibrium and De-escalation (RED) strategy is a simplified phased hemodynamic management approach for patients with sepsis and septic shock. Our goal with the introduction of this concept is to organize and underscore the fact that the cardiovascular support of sepsis is dynamic and should be adapted to each individual and context.

    Keywords: septic shock, Children, guidelines, Fluid bolus, adrenaline, Mortality

    Received: 19 Nov 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Fernández-Sarmiento, Ranjit, Sanchez- Pinto, Nadkarni, Jabornisky and Kissoon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jaime Fernández-Sarmiento, Cardioinfantil Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.