New way of measuring white blood cell function offers better insights to help patients with sepsis

Caring for a patient with sepsis requires walking a treatment tightrope. Clinicians must identify the pathogen that is causing a patient’s infection, carefully monitor the patient’s response to antibiotics and supportive measures and race against the clock to prevent potential organ failure and death. Most of the time, physicians can control the infection itself. What ultimately leads to multi-organ system […]

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Novel approach leads to potential sepsis prevention in burn patients

Immediately following severe burns, bacteria reach the wound from different sources, including the patient’s skin, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tracts and health care-related human contact. Within the wound, bacteria multiply, establish an infection and move from the infected burn wound into the bloodstream, causing serious complications like sepsis, multiple-organ failure and death. In modern burn units, more than 50% of deaths […]

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Biochemical compound responsible for blood pressure drop in sepsis is discovered

A study conducted by an international group of researchers has overturned the understanding of life-threatening inflammatory diseases such as sepsis, pointing to a biochemical agent that may be involved in the rapid decline in blood pressure that occurs in the advanced stage of sepsis and usually causes the patient’s death. This discovery could pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches. […]

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Patients with sepsis at higher risk of stroke, heart attack after hospital discharge

Patients with sepsis are at increased risk of stroke or myocardial infarction (heart attack) in the first 4 weeks after hospital discharge, according to a large Taiwanese study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Sepsis accounts for an estimated 8 million deaths worldwide, and in Canada causes more than half of all deaths from infectious diseases. Researchers looked at […]

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Putting the brakes on sepsis

Sepsis—an extreme response to infection—can cause damage to multiple organ systems when it triggers an uncontrolled inflammatory response. C. Henrique Serezani, Ph.D., and colleagues are seeking molecular “brakes” that will dampen sepsis-induced inflammation and prevent organ damage. They investigated a role for an enzyme called PTEN, a lipid and protein phosphatase that regulates various pathways of the immune response. They […]

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