An overblown immune response could be killing a portion ofthe sick, and some doctors think that new treatmentsbeing tested couldhelp at least some of those patients.
Hopes were high that a cocktail of vitamins and steroids could treat a deadly disease that kills some 270,000 Americans annually. Trial results were disappointing.
Sepsis, or blood poisoning, arises when the body overreacts to an infection. An analysis finds that it may be involved in 20% of deaths worldwide, twice the proportion previously estimated.
The biggest study published to date on vitamin C as a treatment for sepsis couldn't say it helped patients. But the paper does hint that people who got the treatment were more likely to survive.
Sepsis, the body's overreaction to infection, strikes more than a million Americans a year and kills more than 250,000. Evidence suggests that regulations can improve its diagnosis and patient care.
Researchers have devised a large clinical study to quickly assess whether one doctor's apparently effective treatment for deadly sepsis is a fluke or worthy of widespread use.
People who suffer from prolonged delirium in the hospital are likely to develop long-term mental problems like dementia. Doctors have come up with techniques they say can reduce delirium in the ICU.
The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen also says the multicenter study of life-threatening sepsis will at best produce confusing results. A Harvard doctor and designer of the research disagrees.
Two big studies aim to rigorously test what could be a revolutionary treatment for a common and deadly disease: sepsis. Many doctors are awaiting the results before changing their practice.
A bedside computer loaded with software that tracks vital signs in the ICU can pick up early warning patterns, specialists say. But it takes a human care provider to sort the signal from the noise.
A 51-year-old man nearly died from septic shock, when a crushing injury led to overwhelming infection. After getting an experimental treatment, he's recovering well, but some doctors want more proof.
Each year more than 600,000 babies die of sepsis. Researchers have found a simple way to prevent it: Feed babies probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.
Some states dictate how doctors must treat this life-threatening reaction to infection, and early intervention is helping. But scientific evidence may be changing too rapidly for the rules to keep up.
The bodywide inflammation known as sepsis kills about 300,000 people in U.S. hospitals each year. Promising treatments have come and gone, warn skeptical doctors, who call for rigorous research.
Research hasn't yet confirmed the early hints that a mix of IV vitamins and steroids might stop the fatal organ failure of sepsis. But an effective treatment for sepsis would be a really big deal.
Although a CDC study released today found that 80 percent of cases develop outside the hospital or at a nursing home, many people still don't know about this lethal medical condition.
It's a deadly combination of infection and inflammation striking more than a million Americans every year. Doctors can treat the symptoms of sepsis, but they still can't treat the underlying problem.
