The quest for the optimal blood pressure in septic shock

Septic shock is essentially characterized by reduced tissue perfusion due to distributive shock as a consequence of infection. One of the essential components in its management is restoration of tissue perfusion (1). To achieve this goal, one of the first steps is fluid resuscitation followed by the use of vasopressors, if required, in order to maintain tissue perfusion pressure. As perfusion of the vital organs cannot be gauged directly, one of the most commonly used surrogates is the mean arterial pressure (MAP), as it can be measured easily.