Search Tag: Sepsis
2019 12 Mar
Since sepsis was first identified almost three decades ago, the existing definitions remain imprecise and the clinical diagnosis of sepsis corresponds poorly with post hoc presence of infection. Furthermore, the outcome of sepsis depends on factors beyond patient signs and symptoms, including age, the infection source, and the timing and appropriateness...Read more
2019 06 Mar
With multiple advances in critical care, more patients are given the chance to survive life-threatening illnesses such as sepsis. This growing cohort of patients, however, grapples with a new challenge – post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). A raft of symptoms, including muscle weakness, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),...Read more
2019 20 Feb
In a cohort study reviewing the medical records of 568 patients who were admitted to six U.S. hospitals, sepsis was found to be the most common immediate cause of death. However, most underlying causes of death were related to severe chronic comorbidities and most sepsis-associated deaths were unlikely to be preventable through better hospital-based...Read more
2019 30 Jan
A new analysis has identified several genetic variants that could influence one's susceptibility to sepsis, a life-threatening condition. This study provides a novel insight that may affect personalised targeted treatment in the future clinical management of sepsis. Variants are alterations in nucleotide base pairs located within a gene or...Read more
2018 30 Dec
In 2015, UPMC a global multi-hospital system that has over 40 hospitals and 85,000 employees, began a new sepsis initiative to increase the speed of identification and treatment of sepsis patients. According to the CDC, sepsis is a major cause of preventable patient deaths in hospitals. It’s estimated one in three patients who die in hospitals...Read more
2018 18 Dec
Intravenous (IV) fluids provided by paramedics were associated with reduced in-hospital mortality for patients with sepsis and hypotension but not for those with a higher initial systolic blood pressure. This is the central finding of a large cohort study (n = 1,871 patients) conducted in Canada and published by JAMA Network. Early IV fluid...Read more
2018 27 Nov
Researchers in Japan conducted a multicentre retrospective observational study to investigate the epidemiology of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in patients with sepsis. They found that patients with DIC diagnosed by two consensus criteria had higher severity and in-hospital mortality than patients without DIC. The study results confirm...Read more
2018 14 Nov
A new study has validated potential biomarkers for a sepsis-triage model to distinguish sepsis patients requiring care in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from sepsis identified in the paediatric emergency department (PED) that does not require ICU admission. The study, led by Beata Mickiewicz and colleagues from the University of Calgary...Read more
2018 31 Oct
Researchers from Imperial College London have created an artificial intelligence system that could help treat patients with sepsis. Aptly named AI Clinician, the system could predict the best treatment strategy for patients. Tests conducted by the researchers showed that 98 percent of the time, the AI system matched or was better than the human...Read more
2018 31 Oct
Sepsis, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, is characterised by a dysregulated immune response to infections that results in life-threatening organ dysfunction. Conventional therapy of sepsis typically starts with resuscitative measures; however, the only definitive therapy is adequate antibiotics and source control in surgical...Read more
2018 17 Oct
Among patients with septic shock who had severe acute kidney injury (AKI), there was no significant difference in overall mortality at 90 days between patients who were assigned to an early strategy for the initiation of renal-replacement therapy and those who were assigned to a delayed strategy, according to a randomised controlled trial published...Read more
2018 17 Oct
A new meta-analysis reveals a positive correlation between incorporating vitamin C in the treatment of sepsis and favourable patient outcomes. Results of the meta-analysis showed a marked reduction in mortality and duration of vasopressor administration in the group with the use of vitamin C, despite varying degrees of statistical significance between...Read more
2018 16 Oct
Shock is an emergency, and if it is not treated, it will mostly be fatal. Early intervention and admission to the ICU is essential. Our cover story considers several aspects of shock, including pathophysiology and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, as well as source control, fluids, differentiation using point-of-care ultrasound and vasoactive medication....Read more
2018 16 Oct
Mechanisms of endotoxin-induced multi-organ damage. Endotoxin-induced sepsis remains a leading cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) identification by the immune system triggers a cascade of signalling pathways, leading to the release of several cytokines and chemokines, which orchestrate the...Read more
2018 16 Oct
In the past decades there have been significant advances in the diagnosis and management of patients with sepsis and septic shock, and overall awareness has increased significantly (Angus and van der Poll 2013). Emphasis is currently on the early detection of sepsis and rapid initiation of fluid administration and antibiotic therapy, all of which...Read more
2018 16 Oct
The latest in diagnosis and treatment. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in children. Current paediatric definitions are based on systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Since the publication of the third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock for adults, efforts in paediatrics are focused on finding a definition...Read more
2018 16 Oct
Evaluation of aids to the delivery of sepsis treatment. In NHS Wales the Sepsis 6 bundle, delivered within one hour of sepsis recognition, has been standard treatment in acute hospital settings since 2013. We describe various methods for increasing the speed and effectiveness of Sepsis 6 bundle delivery that have been trialled with positive...Read more
2018 03 Oct
Sepsis is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. However, there are important differences in the populations at risk, infecting pathogens, and clinical capacity to manage sepsis in high and low-resource settings; thus context-specific approaches are necessary to mitigate this major public health problem, according to a review published...Read more
2018 26 Sep
Despite decades of sepsis research into a specific immune system-targeting adjunctive therapy, not a single adjunctive treatment is used in current clinical practice. Notably, in recent years, increased appreciation of the importance of sepsis-induced immunoparalysis in causing morbidity and mortality in sepsis patients has resulted in a paradigm...Read more
2018 18 Sep
Doctors are responsible for reducing antibiotic usage in their hospital, region and country. At the same time, emergency medicine doctors have the responsibility to treat very sick patients - with suspected sepsis and septic shock, efficiently. This was the conundrum addressed by Christian Backer Mogensen, consultant in infectious medicine and emergency...Read more
2018 13 Sep
A state-wide mandated public reporting of compliance with protocols to treat severe sepsis and septic shock appears to improve care and reduce mortality, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. In "Mortality Changes Associated with Mandated Public...Read more
2018 13 Sep
Patients over 70 who present to the emergency department with sepsis have a higher disease severity, and therefore different risk stratification is needed, says Bas De Groot, Leiden University Medical Centre. He presented his recommendations at the European Society of Emergency Medicine annual congress, which met in Glasgow this week. Their...Read more
2018 13 Sep
Sepsis is a common and costly condition encountered by pre-hospital and emergency department (ED) clinicians. Early antibiotics improve outcomes for septic patients. Researchers from Intermountain Medical Center in Utah led a study to investigate the relationship between septic patients’ pre-hospital level of care and ED door-to-antibiotic time. ...Read more
2018 06 Sep
Septic cardiomyopathy is a key feature of sepsis-associated cardiovascular failure. However, the lack of a clear and consistent definition of septic cardiomyopathy complicates not only the diagnosis but also the investigations of the prevalence of septic cardiomyopathy, according to a review to appear in the journal CHEST. Septic cardiomyopathy,...Read more
2018 29 Aug
Patients with sepsis not requiring life support therapies have a reduced likelihood of being admitted from the emergency department (ED) to the intensive care unit (ICU) when the ICU is crowded, according to new research led by the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. The study is in press in the journal Annals of the American...Read more
2018 04 Jul
Sepsis is a complex syndrome characterised by simultaneous activation of pro- and anti-inflammatory processes. During sepsis, immune cells undergo profound phenotypic modifications in their activation state, response to stimuli, localisation, and numbers. These phenomena are finely regulated by various cytokines and haematopoietic growth factors...Read more
2018 03 Jul
The incidence of sepsis – a condition that is associated with high morbidity and mortality – seems to be increasing. Early appropriate antibiotic treatment is essential to improve survival. Researchers in Spain say that despite advances in sepsis treatment in recent years, educational interventions can still improve the delivery of care. Further...Read more
2018 27 Jun
Sepsis is a leading cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admission in older patients. Currently, however, the only therapies for sepsis remain supportive care, including prompt administration of antibiotics, adequate source control of the underlying infection (if known), and vigilance to prevent iatrogenicity and the other complications of being...Read more