Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Immunomodulation strategies in the critically ill 

Immunomodulation strategies in the critically ill
Chapter:
Immunomodulation strategies in the critically ill
Author(s):

Aline B. Maddux

and Gordon R. Bernard

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199600830.003.0312
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 21 May 2022

Severe sepsis is a hyperimmune response to an infectious stimulus resulting in a surge of cytokines and mediators of inflammation. High circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death in septic patients. It has been recognized that patients with sepsis progress into a state of immune paralysis characterized by immune cell apoptosis and high levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines… Anti-inflammatory cytokines suppress production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibit monocytes from presenting antigens to other immune cells. Immune paralysis probably leads to the patient’s inability to clear infections resulting in the delayed mortality observed in some septic patients. Beneficial therapies for sepsis are limited to the mechanical eradication of the source of infection, antibiotics, the judicious use of fluids to support organ perfusion, and oxygen supplementation. Strategies to counteract the hyper- and hypo-immune phases of sepsis have been tried thus far with only minimal success.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.