VICTAS Trial Finds No Benefit of IV Ascorbic Acid for Sepsis
One of the sad things about hospital research of nutritional medicine, particularly vitamin C, is that rarely does the study demonstrate effectiveness. Years ago, when Pauling and Cameron wrote about ascorbic acid showing benefit in cancer patients, a Mayo Clinic surgeon, Charles Moertel, wrote that his trial with vitamin C did not show improved survival. In 2019 Dr. Alpha Fowler at the University of Virginia demonstrated that vitamin C shortened hospitalization and ICU time in patients with sepsis. Following a similar protocol established by Fowler, Dr. Jonathan Sevransky at Emory University carried out a multi-institutional placebo-blinded randomized study of vitamin C in treating sepsis.1 His VICTAS trial used a low dose of ascorbic acid, thiamine, and hydrocortisone (HAT protocol). Not surprisingly, there was no benefit in the treatment group compared to the placebo group in survival, amount of time in the ICU, and amount of time hospitalized. The study published in JAMA in February 2021, demonstrating an absence of vitamin C effectiveness in sepsis was accorded CME status for doctors reading the article and passing a quiz; the take away was there is no need to consider vitamin C in septic patients and, presumably, patients with major infections.
0 Comments