Review

Year in review 2008: Critical Care - sepsis

Steven M Opal¹ and Steven P LaRosa²

¹Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Memorial Hospital of RI, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA

²Department of Medicine, Infectious Disease Division, Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2009, 13:224doi:10.1186/cc7945

Published:	21 October 2009

Abstract

The present report highlights the most important papers appearing in Critical Care and other major journals about severe sepsis, the systemic inflammatory response and multiorgan dysfunction over the past year. A number of these clinical and laboratory studies will have a considerable impact on the sepsis research agenda for years to come. The steroid controversy, the debate over tight glycemic control, the colloid versus crystalloid issue, the value of selective decontamination of the digestive tract, the enlarging role of biomarkers, the value of genomics and rapid diagnostic techniques have all been prominently featured in recent publications. Basic research into novel predictive assays, genetic polymorphisms, and new molecular methods to risk-stratify and to determine treatment options for sepsis have occupied much of the Critical Care publications relating to sepsis pathophysiology in 2008. We will attempt to briefly summarize what we consider to be the most significant contributions to the sepsis literature over the last year, and their likely ramifications in the future, for critical care clinicians, clinical investigators and basic researchers alike.