It is critical to prevent hemodilution by limiting fluid resuscitation and using an aggressive transfusion strategy. Additionally, despite adequate fluid resuscitation, only blood transfusion can improve tissue oxygenation [ 22 ]. Thus, one key message is that we must consider blood transfusion early during the management of hemorrhagic shock to improve microvascular oxygen delivery.
The optimal level of blood pressure during the resuscitation of the hemorrhagic shock patient is still debated. The initial objectives are to control the bleeding as soon as possible and to maintain a minimal arterial pressure
to limit tissue hypoxia. Restoration of arterial pressure with uncontrolled bleeding exposes the patient to the risk of increased bleeding or of prevented clot formation.
Dutton et al. [2 3] found that titrating the initial fluid therapy to a lower-than-normal systolic blood pressure (70 mmHg) during active hemorrhage did not affect the mortality rate. The low number and the heterogeneity of studied patients limit the conclusions of this study. For example, the average systolic blood pressure was equal to 100 ± 17 mmHg in the 70-mmHg group, because the
blood pressure had increased spontaneously toward normal in some patients. Recently, Morrison et al. [2 4] , while evaluating patients in hemorrhagic shock who required emergent surgery, compared an intraoperative,
hypotensive, resuscitative strategy in which the target MAP was 50 mmHg with a standard fluid resuscitative strategy in which the target MAP was 65 mmHg. The
hypotensive, resuscitative strategy was a safe strategy
that resulted in a significant reduction in blood product transfusions and overall IV fluid administration with a decrease in postoperative coagulopathy. However, in this study, there was no MAP difference between the two groups (64.4 mmHg vs. 68.5 mmHg) despite the different MAP objectives. The authors attributed this absence of a MAP difference to faster control of the bleeding in
the 50-mmHg group by inducing a spontaneous MAP increase in this group. Thus, there is an insufficient quality or quantity of evidence to determine an optimal
blood pressure level during active hemorrhagic shock.