Points & Pearls Excerpt

Definitions and Screening Tools

• Sepsis is characterized by excessive inflammation, suppression of innate and adaptive immunity, and vascular injury.²
• The definitions of sepsis have evolved substantially. Sepsis-3 is the most current definition (Third International Consensus Definitions), adopted in 2016.¹ It redefined sepsis as “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection.”¹
• Updated definitions in Sepsis-3 emphasized organ dysfunction in the setting of infection, which can be quantified using the sequential (sepsis-related) organ failure assessment (SOFA) score.