During the interval from 7 to 72 hours, patients assigned to EGDT exhibited a more significant improvement in mean ScvO 2 (70.4 ± 10.7% versus 65.3 ± 11.4%), in lactate concentration (3.0 ± 4.4 mmol/l versus 3.9 ± 4.4 mmol/), in base deficit (2.0 ± 6.6 mmol/l versus 5.1 ± 6.7 mmol/l), and in pH (7.40 ± 0.12 versus 7.36 ± 0.12) than patients assigned to standard therapy (P ≤ 0.02 for all comparisons). During the same period, the mean APACHE II scores were significantly lower, indicating less severe organ dysfunction, in the patients assigned to EGDT than in those patients assigned to standard therapy (13.0 ± 6.3 versus 15.9 ± 6.4, P < 0.001).