Articles: sepsis.
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Hemoperfusion was applied to the treatment of 20 patients with fulminant meningococcemia complicated by the infectious-toxic shock, stage III, and the polyorgan insufficiency syndrome. Ten patients recovered while the remaining 10 died mainly because of irreversible lesions of the vitally important organs: kidneys, adrenals, heart and brain. ⋯ Hemoperfusion was instituted immediately after elimination of arterial hypotension. The use of hemoperfusion promoted the abatement of systemic toxicosis and neurotoxicosis, the recovery and stabilization of the hemodynamics, improvement of rheological properties of the blood, the recovery of effective tissue perfusion, the lowering of specific antigenemia and blood toxicity, and elimination of the pathological protein complexes from the circulating blood.
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We studied a selected series of febrile infants (N = 201) in an attempt to prospectively identify risk factors for bacteremia. Infants with fever less than 39.4 C, vomiting and diarrhea, croup, or viral exanthem or enanthem were not included. Twenty-one infants (9.5%) had positive blood cultures despite the initial judgment of their physician that only viral illness or localized bacterial infection existed. ⋯ We have defined prospectively a population of infants with a high probability of bacteremia and a lower probability of viral illness. Identification of such a group is useful to the emergency physician because early antibiotic therapy may lessen morbidity and mortality. We conclude that an easily obtained data base may be useful in the prospective identification of those at risk for bacteremia.
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Suppurative thrombosis of a central vein is a serious complication of central venous catheter use. Surgical removal of the vein, the treatment usually recommended for peripheral vein suppuration, is technically difficult. We describe six patients with central venous septic thrombophlebitis. ⋯ The fourth patient improved clinically with 2 weeks of medical therapy prior to surgery, which showed the clot to be sterile. In contrast, two patients with suppuration adjacent to and secondarily involving a large vein required surgical drainage of the perivenous collection. Patients with central venous septic thrombophlebitis can be successfully managed with prompt catheter removal, intravenous antibiotics, and anticoagulation, but surgery should be considered when there is a suppurative focus around the vein.