Sepsis: new strategies for management

Abstract

Th is is a relatively short book, which, from the title, purports to cover new approaches to the management of sepsis. Many of the international team of authors (American, Spanish, and Australian) are well-established experts in this fi eld, and the book covers some important aspects. For example, the genetic basis of sepsis is discussed in Chapter 3 with special emphasis on the major groups of genes that have been implicated in predisposition to sepsis and adverse outcomes from sepsis. Th e major challenges to genetic studies in sepsis are also covered. Various components of the immune response are also reviewed, including the pattern recognition molecules, the important infl ammatory and anti-infl ammatory mediators, and the coagulation pathway proteins. Two chapters review general issues associated with antibiotic therapy in patients with severe sepsis. One chapter covers optimal antibiotic use in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia. Th e second chapter deals with important, and often neglected, pharmacodynamic considerations in relation to antibiotic use in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock, providing a comprehensive review of applied pharmacology, detailing the antibiotics most commonly used and practical issues related to their indication and dosage adjustment in patients with severe sepsis. Specifi c therapies are also discussed in separate chapters, including the use of macrolides in community-acquired pneumonia, the use of statins in severe sepsis, the use of corticoids in severe pneumonia, and the nonspecifi c removal of sepsis mediators through blood-purifi cation approaches.