Sepsis

Septic shock typically requires the administration of vasopressors. Adrenergic agents remain the first choice, namely norepinephrine. However, their use to counteract life-threatening hypotension comes with potential adverse effects, so that non-adrenergic vasopressors may also be considered. The use of agents that act through different mechanisms may also provide an advantage. Nitric oxide (NO) is the main driver of the vasodilation that leads to hypotension in septic shock, so several agents have been tested to counteract its effects...

Sepsis is an inflammation caused by the body's systemic response to an infection. The infection could be a result of many diseases, such as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and other illnesses. Some of its symptoms are fever, tachycardia, tachypnea, etc. Unfortunately, sepsis remains a critical problem at the hospitals and leads to many issues, such as increasing mortality rate, health care costs, and health care utilization. Early detection of sepsis in patients can help respond quickly, take preventive actions, and prevent major issues...

New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 383, Issue 25, Page 2451-2460, December 2020.

PURPOSE: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the mortality risk in severe sepsis and septic shock with a low and high fluid volume/balance. METHODS: Cohort studies that compared the mortality of patients with low or high fluid volume/balance were included. Electronic databases: PubMed/Medline PLUS, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. Patient mortality at the longest follow-up was the primary outcome measure. The data were analyzed using STATA 14 statistical software...

Sepsis is aggravated by an inappropriate immune response to invading microorganisms, which occasionally leads to multiple organ failure. Several lines of evidence suggest that the ventricular myocardium is depressed during sepsis with features of diastolic dysfunction. Potential candidates responsible for septic cardiomyopathy include pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), cytokines, and nitric oxide. Extracellular histones and high-mobility group box 1 that function as endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) also contribute to the myocardial dysfunction associated with sepsis...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Sepsis is a common and life-threatening inflammatory response to severe infection treated with antibiotics and fluid resuscitation. Despite the central role of intravenous fluid in sepsis management, fundamental questions regarding which fluid and in what amount remain unanswered. Recent advances in understanding the physiologic response to fluid administration, and large clinical studies examining resuscitation strategies, fluid balance after resuscitation, colloid versus crystalloid solutions, and high- versus low-chloride crystalloids, inform the current approach to sepsis fluid management and suggest areas for future research...

Sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (SAKI) remains an important challenge in critical care medicine. We reviewed current available evidence on prevention and treatment of SAKI with focus on some recent advances and developments. Prevention of SAKI starts with early and ample fluid resuscitation preferentially with crystalloid solutions. Balanced crystalloids have no proven superior benefit. Renal function can be evaluated by measuring lactate clearance rate, renal Doppler, or central venous oxygenation monitoring...

IMPORTANCE: Definitions of sepsis and septic shock were last revised in 2001. Considerable advances have since been made into the pathobiology (changes in organ function, morphology, cell biology, biochemistry, immunology, and circulation), management, and epidemiology of sepsis, suggesting the need for reexamination. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and, as needed, update definitions for sepsis and septic shock. PROCESS: A task force (n = 19) with expertise in sepsis pathobiology, clinical trials, and epidemiology was convened by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine...

IMPORTANCE: The Third International Consensus Definitions Task Force defined sepsis as "life-threatening organ dysfunction due to a dysregulated host response to infection." The performance of clinical criteria for this sepsis definition is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the validity of clinical criteria to identify patients with suspected infection who are at risk of sepsis. DESIGN, SETTINGS, AND POPULATION: Among 1.3 million electronic health record encounters from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2012, at 12 hospitals in southwestern Pennsylvania, we identified those with suspected infection in whom to compare criteria...

BACKGROUND: The consensus definition of severe sepsis requires suspected or proven infection, organ failure, and signs that meet two or more criteria for the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). We aimed to test the sensitivity, face validity, and construct validity of this approach. METHODS: We studied data from patients from 172 intensive care units in Australia and New Zealand from 2000 through 2013. We identified patients with infection and organ failure and categorized them according to whether they had signs meeting two or more SIRS criteria (SIRS-positive severe sepsis) or less than two SIRS criteria (SIRS-negative severe sepsis)...

INTRODUCTION: In septic shock, pulse pressure or cardiac output variation during passive leg raising are preload dependence indices reliable at predicting fluid responsiveness. Therefore, they may help to identify those patients who need intravascular volume expansion, while avoiding unnecessary fluid administration in the other patients. However, whether their use improves septic shock prognosis remains unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical benefits of using preload dependence indices to titrate intravascular fluids during septic shock...

OBJECTIVES: This trial evaluated the efficacy of acetaminophen in reducing oxidative injury, as measured by plasma F2-isoprostanes, in adult patients with severe sepsis and detectable plasma cell-free hemoglobin. DESIGN: Single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial. SETTING: Medical ICU in a tertiary, academic medical center. PATIENTS: Critically ill patients 18 years old or older with severe sepsis and detectable plasma cell-free hemoglobin...

OBJECTIVES: Approximately one in every four patients who present to the emergency department with sepsis progresses to septic shock within 72 hours of arrival. In this study, we describe key patient characteristics present within 4 hours of emergency department arrival that are associated with developing septic shock between 4 and 48 hours of emergency department arrival. DESIGN AND SETTING: This study was a retrospective chart review study of all patients hospitalized from the emergency department with two or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria present within 4 hours of emergency department arrival from September 2010 to February 2011 at two large academic institutions...

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the influence of the immune profile on the outcome at day 28 (D28) of patients admitted to the ICU for septic shock or severe sepsis. METHODS: We conducted an observational study using a prospective multicenter database and included all patients admitted to 11 ICUs for severe sepsis or septic shock from January 1997 to August 2011. Seven profiles of immunodeficiency were defined. The prognostic analysis used a competitive risk model (Fine and Gray), in which being alive at ICU or hospital discharge before D28 competed with death...

Early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) consists of early, aggressive fluid resuscitation and is known to improve survival in sepsis. It is unknown how often EGDT leads to subsequent fluid overload and whether post-EGDT fluid overload affects patients' outcomes. Our hypothesis was that patients with sepsis treated with EGDT were at risk for fluid overload and that fluid overload would be associated with adverse outcomes. We conducted a retrospective cohort of 405 consecutive patients admitted with severe sepsis and septic shock to the medical intensive care unit of a tertiary care academic hospital from January 2008 to December 2009...

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have reported decreased overall severe sepsis mortality, but associations with organism trends have not yet been investigated. This study explored organism-specific severe sepsis mortality trends from 1999 to 2008 in a large hospital-based administrative database. DESIGN: Secondary data analysis using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. SETTING: United States hospitals sampled in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample dataset...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Pregnancies complicated by severe sepsis and septic shock are associated with increased rates of preterm labor, fetal infection, and preterm delivery. Sepsis onset in pregnancy can be insidious, and patients may appear deceptively well before rapidly deteriorating with the development of septic shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, or death. The outcome and survivability in severe sepsis and septic shock in pregnancy are improved with early detection, prompt recognition of the source of infection, and targeted therapy...

BACKGROUND: Standard treatment practice for the hypotensive patient with poor tissue perfusion is rapid volume resuscitation; in some scenarios, such as septic shock, this is performed with targeted goal-directed endpoints within 6 h of presentation. As a result, patients often develop significant positive fluid accumulation, which has been associated with poor outcomes above certain thresholds. METHODS: The aim of the current paper is to provide guidance for active pharmacological fluid management in the patient with, or at risk for, clinically significant positive fluid balance from either resuscitation for hypovolaemic shock or acute decompensated heart failure...