[Severe sepsis and septic shock]

Sepsis and consequent multiorgan dysfunction syndrome are responsible for over 60% of deaths in patients receiving critical care in spite of improvements in patient management. We describe the pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical picture, and biochemical markers that contribute to the diagnosis and assessment of infection severity and progression of infection to sepsis and from severe sepsis to septic shock. Our focus is on the guidelines of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, complemented with additional information published since those guidelines appeared. The Ovid MEDLINE database was used for a search from 1997 through 2006.