Der Chirurg; Zeitschrift für alle Gebiete der operativen Medizen
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This paper uses definitions of a consensus conference (ACCP/CCM) describing the epidemiology of SIRS, sepsis and septic shock in surgical ICU patients. During a period of 2 years a total of 656 patients were prospectively enrolled into the study. 335 patients (51.1% of the total population) developed SIRS (systemic inflammatory response syndrome); in 65 of these patients infection could be documented, i.e. they met the criteria of sepsis, 47 of these 65 septic patients developed septic shock, with mortality of 53.2%. ⋯ Moreover, SIRS and sepsis appear to be of minor clinical relevance. On the contrary, septic shock describes a very high risk group of patients which should be characterized more closely in future studies.