Capillary refill time (CRT) is a valuable tool for triage and to guide resuscitation. However, little is known about CRT kinetics after fluid infusion.

We conducted a prospective observational study in a tertiary teaching hospital. First, we analyzed the intra-observer variability of CRT. Next, we monitored fingertip CRT in sepsis patients during volume expansion within the first 24 h of ICU admission. Fingertip CRT was measured every 2 min during 30 min following crystalloid infusion (500 mL over 15 min).

First, the accuracy of repetitive fingertip CRT measurements was evaluated on 40 critically ill patients. Reproducibility was excellent, with an intra-class correlation coefficient of 99.5% (CI 95% [99.3, 99.8]). A CRT variation larger than 0.2 s was considered as significant. Next, variations of CRT during volume expansion were evaluated on 29 septic patients; median SOFA score was 7 [5–9], median SAPS II was 57 [45–72], and ICU mortality rate was 24%. Twenty-three patients were responders as defined by a CRT decrease  >  0.2 s at 30 min after volume expansion, and 6 were non-responders. Among responders, we observed that fingertip CRT quickly improved with a significant decrease at 6–8 min after start of crystalloid infusion, the maximal improvement being observed after 10–12 min (−0.7 [−0.3;−0.9] s) and maintained at 30 min. CRT variations significantly correlated with baseline CRT measurements ( R  = 0.39, P  = 0.05).

CRT quickly improved during volume expansion with a significant decrease 6–8 min after start of fluid infusion and a maximal drop at 10–12 min.