Hemodynamic therapy aimed at achieving supranormal values for the cardiac index or normal values for mixed venous oxygen saturation does not reduce morbidity or mortality among critically ill patients. A total of 10,726 patients in 56 ICUs were screened, among whom 762 patients belonging to predefined diagnostic categories with acute physiology scores of 11 or higher were randomly assigned to the three groups. The hemodynamic targets were reached by 94.3% of the control group, 44.9% of the cardiac-index group, and 66.7% of the oxygen-saturation group. Mortality was 48.4%, 48.6%, and 52.1%, respectively, up to the time of discharge from the intensive care unit and 62.3%, 61.7%, and 63.8% at six months.

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