Inotropes and vasopressors frequently are administered in critically ill and perioperative
patients. However, clinical practice is highly variable across clinicians and institutions.
The inotropic score and its upgrade “vasoactive-inotropic score” (VIS) can be used
to objectively quantify the degree of hemodynamic support. Several studies demonstrated
a correlation between high VIS and poor outcome. Furthermore, VIS can help compare
different clinical and research experiences. Several recently developed scores include
VIS in their model, although they still require independent validation. Conversely,
VIS has several pitfalls, including the fact that a universally recognized version
that includes all commonly used vasoactive drugs does not exist. In this review, the
authors summarize all the VIS, VIS-related, and VIS-validating manuscripts, and suggest
a new updated version of VIS that also includes terlipressin, methylene blue, and
angiotensin II.
Key Words
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Publication history
Published online: October 14, 2020
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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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