The CITRIS-ALI study found no difference in primary outcomes among patients with sepsis treated with vitamin C versus placebo. But there was a difference in a secondary outcome – overall mortality.

When it comes to sepsis and septic shock, docs are used to disappointment.

When I was training, the new hotness was stress-dose steroids and dual coverage for Gram negatives. Then Rivers’ early goal-directed therapy, then activated protein C.

Time and again, early dramatic successes gave way to less impressive or negative studies and the hope that there was a silver bullet for sepsis diminished.

But one therapy has proven tantalizingly resilient, not only for reports of dramatic successes but also because of its low cost and virtual absence of side effects. That therapy? Vitamin C.

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