Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine
-
The activation of a pro-inflammatory cascade after infection, major surgery, burn or trauma appears to be important in the development of subsequent immune dysfunction, susceptibility to sepsis and multiple organ failure. It is well known that T-cell plays a critical role in the systemic response to infection. Distinct patterns of cytokines are produced by two different types of T-helper cells (Th). ⋯ We believe that severe sepsis clearly induce polarization of T-helper lymphocyte activity with a clear shift in Th2 direction. This type of response may lead immunosuppression. Modulation of Th cell subset predominance may present a novel therapeutic option in the treatment of severe sepsis.
-
The concept of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was introduced in 1992 to define and objectively diagnose sepsis. Over the last decade, the definition of sepsis has been used for inclusion criteria of multicenter trials to develop innovative therapies of sepsis. With the recent understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms of sepsis, many drugs have been tested, but only two drugs (activated protein C and neutrophil-elastase inhibitor) have been approved for clinical use in sepsis or SIRS. Further understanding of basic pathophysiology of SIRS and sepsis holds promise to develop a new therapeutic strategy to improve survival of patients with SIRS and sepsis.
-
Acute pancreatitis is a disease with a wide variety of pathophysiologies, ranging from mild to severe condition. In about 80% to 90% of cases, acute pancreatitis presents as a mild inflammation with low morbidity and mortality, self-reversing to normal condition within 3-4 days. However, the natural course of severe pancreatitis progresses into SIRS and necrosis of the pancreas and its surrounding tissue. ⋯ For those events, the evidences were collected by a systemic search of MEDLINE and Japan Centra Revues Medicina. And then practical recommendations were also graded and introduced to provide a framework for clinitians to manage acute pancreatitis as a guideline. This paper described a part of those recommendations.