Active clinical trials for "Toxemia"

Comparison of noninvasive cardiac output monitor (NICOM, Cheetah Medical) with Edwards FloTrac minimally-invasive cardiac output monitor in predicting fluid responsiveness in sepsis and septic shock.

To determine the role of dysfunctional high density lipoprotein (Dys-HDL) in predicting or mediating progression to chronic critical illness or morbid long-term outcomes in patients being treated for community-acquired or hospital-acquired sepsis.

Sepsis is widespread (1.8 million cases annually worldwide) and accounts for a very high mortality: 20-25% of all severe sepsis, 40-70% of all septic shock. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) recommends a first 6 hours "resuscitative bundle" to improve patient's outcome. Despite this, the bundle is poorly performed, because of a superficial knowledge of the guidelines and several difficulties in their clinical implementation. In recognition of this, a "sepsis six" bundle is designed to facilitate early intervention with just three diagnostic and three therapeutic steps to be delivered by staff within 1 h. The aim of our study is to evaluate if an Educational and Organizational Intervention (EOI) could improve septic patient's outcome in no Critical Care Units. The second endpoint is to evaluate if the compliance to the "sepsis six" bundle could improve after this sort of intervention.

The aim of this study is to investigate if there is a correlation between lactate clearance and the course at patients with severe sepsis and septic shock at german intensive care units.

There is debate regarding the use of non invasive (ultrasound assessed) parameters of fluid volume status in patients with sepsis. To establish the role of inferior vena cava ultrasound in guiding fluid resuscitation we first need to define the inferior vena cava collapsibility index in this population of patients. The research question is: In adult patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock what is the mean baseline inferior vena cava collapsibility index (IVCCI) prior to fluid resuscitation.

The aim of the study is to correlate the dynamic cerebrovascular autoregulation by patients with sepsis with a sepsis-associated delirium.

The objectives are to: derive and validate a panel of miRNAs that are consistently differentially expressed in the plasma of patients with and without sepsis investigate the prognostic and predictive values of the panel of miRNAs to guide treatment investigate the roles of these differentially-expressed circulating miRNAs in immune modulation during sepsis The methodology involves sampling of blood from controls and subjects in the sepsis continuum at their earliest presentation in the emergency department longitudinally to hospitalization. The investigators will develop panels of miRNAs that are specific to early and late stages of sepsis, and correlate clinical, biochemical and microbiological outcomes with these miRNAs.

The purpose of this prospective, non-interventional, multi-centre clinical study is to assess the clinical validity of the Heparin Binding Protein (HBP) assay for indicating the presence, or outcome, of severe sepsis (including septic shock), over 72 hours, in patients with suspected infection following emergency department admission.

Persistence of a marked compensatory anti-inflammatory innate immune response after an insult is termed immunoparalysis. There is no biomarker available to determine the immune status of patient. Thus, the need for early and definite diagnosis of immune status of patient with sepsis, as well as the identification of patients at risk of evolving with severe organ dysfunctions, is crucial. Most important of all, speed is the key to survival. Therefore, it of crucial importance to identify which patient characteristic determines the poor prognosis. Early intervention can improve the prognosis. Investigators foresee an urgent need to identify predictors for mortality in severe sepsis, including clinical factors or immune status. Recently, the PIRO model has been proposed as a way of stratifying septic patients according to their Predisposing condition, the severity of Infection, the Response to therapy and the degree of Organ dysfunction. The immune status may be associated with above model. However, there is paucity data addressing this issue. In this study, investigators will also analyze the progression of patient condition during treatment and the associated immune status change. In the future, Investigators hope the determination of immune status may contribute to this model of classification rather than just being used as prognostic markers. Despite the advances in the knowledge of the basic processes that trigger and sustain the systemic inflammatory response in sepsis, the search for a "magic bullet" to treat this syndrome has been frustrating. The incidence of severe sepsis and septic shock still remains quite high, as does its mortality, which has decreased very little over the past decades.

Many biomarkers have been evaluated in sepsis, especially for prognostic purposes, but none has yet been shown to have sufficient sensitivity or specificity for routine use in clinical practice. However, highlighting a biomarker facilitating the evaluation of the severity of sepsis remains relevant in a pathology where survival is largely conditioned by the initiation of an early and adapted treatment. Recent evidence suggests that hepcidin, which is the key hormone for systemic regulation of iron metabolism, may be an interesting prognostic biomarker. The synthesis of this peptide is regulated by the iron stocks of the body, erythropoiesis, but also inflammation. The mechanisms inducing the expression of hepcidin during inflammation are multiple: interleukin-6 (IL-6) in particular, pro-inflammatory cytokine is a strong inducer of hepcidin. In addition, its expression is increased by the effect of lipopolysaccharide via Toll-like receptors . In septic patients, elevated levels of hepcidin or pro-hepcidin have been reported . A new role for hepcidin in the control of inflammatory and / or immune response has recently been reported. Thus, in a model of murine septic shock, the deleterious character of a lack of expression of hepcidin could be demonstrated . In humans, hepcidinemia has been shown to be a predictive factor in the development of immunotolerance in hepatic transplant patients. Hepcidin therefore plays a major role in the regulation of the inflammatory and / or immune response and in particular during sepsis. The investigators therefore hypothesize that hepcidin could be the marker of an adverse prognosis in septic patients expressing this