Septic Shock

Septic Shock What is septic shock? Severe infection or Sepsis that leads to a dangerous drop in Blood Pressure, organ failure and possibly death is known in medical language as septic shock. This occurs when the immune system launches an extreme response to severe infection that has spread through the blood to the different tissues of the body.

This life-threatening condition often occurs in immune-compromised individuals and elderly or very young patients, whose immune systems are weak or unable to deal with infection effectively. Patients who are suffering from septic shock need intensive care monitoring and treatment. The death rate from this condition may reach up to 50 percent.

What Are the Symptoms of Septic Shock?
The symptoms of septic shock involve various parts of the body, including your brain, heart, liver, Kidneys, and intestines. These may include:

• Pale, cold arms and legs


• Lightheadedness


• Very low or high body temperature, chills


• No urine or low urine output


• Low blood pressure


• Rapid heart rate


• Palpitations


• Shortness of breath


• Agitation, restlessness, confusion or lethargy


• Skin discoloration or rash

Complications
Possible complications of septic shock include:

• Respiratory failure, since your lungs are not able to take in enough oxygen


• Heart failure, because your heart is not able to pump enough blood to the body


• Kidney Failure, when you cannot produce enough urine


• Abnormalities in blood clotting, which increases your risk of internal bleeding

These serious life-threatening conditions need urgent treatment.

When to See a Doctor
You must seek immediate help if you experience a serious infection that could lead to septic shock. If you are diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock, you are most likely to be treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) with careful monitoring. In most cases, treatment begins in the emergency department where various machines and tubes will be attached to your body to evaluate your blood pressure, urine output, and blood oxygenation.

What Are the Causes & Risk Factors of Septic Shock?
Any type of infection can lead to sepsis. These include bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Bacterial infections usually develop in people who are in the hospital. Sepsis may develop from:

• Infections in the digestive system


• Infections in the lungs such as Bronchitis, pneumonia">Pneumonia, or other lower respiratory tract infections


• Infections in the urinary tract


• Infections in the reproductive system

Risk Factors
Certain factors may increase your risk of developing sepsis or septic shock. Elderly individuals and those who have chronic illness often have a greater risk of developing septic shock. Other susceptible individuals include newborns, pregnant women, and patients with weakened immune systems because of HIV/AIDS or Cancer treatment. Other factors that put you at risk of septic shock include:

• Major surgery


• Long-term hospitalization


• Diabetes


• Drug use through injection


• Very sick ICU patients


• Use of invasive medical devices such as breathing tubes or intravenous catheters, which may introduce bacteria into your body

What Are the Treatments for Septic Shock?
Early diagnosis and treatment of septic shock may increase your chances of survival. Important modes of treatment include:

• Oxygen therapy – to help increase oxygen in your blood and help you breathe easier. Oxygen may be delivered through a face mask, a nose tube, or an endotracheal tube that is inserted into the mouth. Patients who have severe difficulty breathing may be hooked to a mechanical ventilator.


• Intravenous fluid therapy to increase blood flow and raise blood pressure may be administered.


• Surgery may be needed in certain cases of severe sepsis to remove dead tissue, which resulted from very low blood pressure. Procedures may include removing infected tissues, draining an Abscess (a collection of pus), or removing a medical device, such as an infected artificial heart valve.

Medications to increase blood flow to the vital organs (brain, heart, liver, and kidneys) may be prescribed. These include:

• Inotropic medicines or inotropes like dobutamine, which stimulate the heart and increase the strength of its contraction. This helps to increase the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to your organs and tissues.


• Vasopressors, which include adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine. These drugs make the blood vessels contract or narrow, thus raising your blood pressure and increasing the flow of blood to the rest of your body. This allows the vital organs to return to their proper functioning.


• Antibiotics – to treat bacterial infection that leads to sepsis and septic shock. The type of antibiotics used will depend on the type of infection and the origin of infection. Usually, antibiotic treatment is started before the test results are out in order to increase a patient’s chances of survival. This may include two to three types of antibiotics to target various possible infectious agents. However, when the specific bacterium that is causing the infection is identified, your doctor will prescribe a more suitable type of antibiotic that is most effective.

Septic Shock

Septic Shock

What is septic shock? Severe infection or Sepsis that leads to a dangerous drop in Blood Pressure, organ failure and possibly death is known in medical language as septic shock. This occurs when the immune system launches an extreme response to severe infection that has spread through the blood to the different tissues of the body.

This life-threatening condition often occurs in immune-compromised individuals and elderly or very young patients, whose immune systems are weak or unable to deal with infection effectively. Patients who are suffering from septic shock need intensive care monitoring and treatment. The death rate from this condition may reach up to 50 percent.

What Are the Symptoms of Septic Shock?
The symptoms of septic shock involve various parts of the body, including your brain, heart, liver, kidneys, and intestines. These may include:

• Pale, cold arms and legs


• Lightheadedness


• Very low or high body temperature, chills


• No urine or low urine output


• Low blood pressure


• Rapid heart rate


• Palpitations


• Shortness of breath


• Agitation, restlessness, confusion or lethargy


• Skin discoloration or rash

Complications
Possible complications of septic shock include:

• Respiratory failure, since your lungs are not able to take in enough oxygen


• Heart failure, because your heart is not able to pump enough blood to the body


• Kidney Failure, when you cannot produce enough urine


• Abnormalities in blood clotting, which increases your risk of internal bleeding

These serious life-threatening conditions need urgent treatment.

When to See a Doctor
You must seek immediate help if you experience a serious infection that could lead to septic shock. If you are diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock, you are most likely to be treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) with careful monitoring. In most cases, treatment begins in the emergency department where various machines and tubes will be attached to your body to evaluate your blood pressure, urine output, and blood oxygenation.

What Are the Causes & Risk Factors of Septic Shock?
Any type of infection can lead to sepsis. These include bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Bacterial infections usually develop in people who are in the hospital. Sepsis may develop from:

• Infections in the digestive system


• Infections in the lungs such as Bronchitis, Pneumonia, or other lower respiratory tract infections


• Infections in the urinary tract


• Infections in the reproductive system

Risk Factors
Certain factors may increase your risk of developing sepsis or septic shock. Elderly individuals and those who have chronic illness often have a greater risk of developing septic shock. Other susceptible individuals include newborns, pregnant women, and patients with weakened immune systems because of Hiv/Aids or Cancer treatment. Other factors that put you at risk of septic shock include:

• Major surgery


• Long-term hospitalization


• Diabetes


• Drug use through injection


• Very sick ICU patients


• Use of invasive medical devices such as breathing tubes or intravenous catheters, which may introduce bacteria into your body

What Are the Treatments for Septic Shock?
Early diagnosis and treatment of septic shock may increase your chances of survival. Important modes of treatment include:

• Oxygen therapy – to help increase oxygen in your blood and help you breathe easier. Oxygen may be delivered through a face mask, a nose tube, or an endotracheal tube that is inserted into the mouth. Patients who have severe difficulty breathing may be hooked to a mechanical ventilator.


• Intravenous fluid therapy to increase blood flow and raise blood pressure may be administered.


• Surgery may be needed in certain cases of severe sepsis to remove dead tissue, which resulted from very low blood pressure. Procedures may include removing infected tissues, draining an Abscess (a collection of pus), or removing a medical device, such as an infected artificial heart valve.

Medications to increase blood flow to the vital organs (brain, heart, liver, and kidneys) may be prescribed. These include:

• Inotropic medicines or inotropes like dobutamine, which stimulate the heart and increase the strength of its contraction. This helps to increase the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to your organs and tissues.


• Vasopressors, which include adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine. These drugs make the blood vessels contract or narrow, thus raising your blood pressure and increasing the flow of blood to the rest of your body. This allows the vital organs to return to their proper functioning.


• Antibiotics – to treat bacterial infection that leads to sepsis and septic shock. The type of antibiotics used will depend on the type of infection and the origin of infection. Usually, antibiotic treatment is started before the test results are out in order to increase a patient’s chances of survival. This may include two to three types of antibiotics to target various possible infectious agents. However, when the specific bacterium that is causing the infection is identified, your doctor will prescribe a more suitable type of antibiotic that is most effective.

Septic Shock

Septic Shock






Septic shock can be defined as severe state of Sepsis that follows sudden drop of Blood Pressure. It can be fatal and life threatening if not attended promptly. Blood pressure would reduce to very low level causing collapse of vital organs and death. Sepsis is a type of severe infection which would proceed to the next stage called septic shock.

Symptoms :

Some of the signs of septic shock are very low blood pressure that makes one difficult to stand up, mental confusion and loss of orientation. The patient may not be able to tell the date or time of the day due to mental imbalance caused by reduced blood supply to the brain. The affected person can develop nausea, vomiting or Diarrhea. The skin may become pale and blue due to loss of blood. If not treated immediately, the person may collapse and die within minutes.

Causes :

Severe form of infection left untreated for long can cause sepsis which would proceed to next stage called septic shock. Viral or bacterial infections are the major cause of sepsis and septic shock. Lung infection or Pneumonia, Urinary Tract Infection and severe type of skin infection can lead to sepsis and septic shock. Once the bacteria and other micro-organisms enter the body it would grow and multiply. Large amounts of toxins will be released by them that would destroy the body’s cells. If left untreated, toxins would destroy the walls of tiny blood vessels resulting in leakage of fluids.

When this happens in the blood vessels of your heart, it may affect the normal function of the heart considerably. The heart may not be able to pump oxygenated blood in required quantity. This in turn would cause depletion of blood for vital organs like kidney or liver or brain resulting in very low blood pressure. This condition is known as septic shock during which giving intravenous fluids for increasing blood pressure may not help the patient to recover.

Who are at risk?

People with lowered immunity, people with chronic diseases like lupus or arthritis and people with autoimmune disorders like HIV or cancer are more prone to develop infection that can lead to septic shock than others.

Tests :

The condition of septic shock can be easily diagnosed based on physical symptoms of the patient. The doctor may check the blood pressure of the patient that can be very low crossing dangerous levels.

Treatment :

Emergency treatment is to be given for septic shock. The patient will be put on artificial respiratory machine and IV fluids will be started immediately to restore normal blood pressure. Based on the critical condition of the patient additional treatments and life supporting devices may be attached. Oxygen therapy will be started either by attaching a tube directly into the nose or through a face mask to improve the symptoms of breathlessness. For some people, ventilator machine is attached to the system to do the task of lungs.

Medications like vasopressors are given through vein so that blood pressure can get back to normalcy. The functions of other vital organs will have to be restored shortly by giving suitable drugs through IV. Antibiotics will be started to destroy the bacteria completely. The doctor and his team would inject suitable antibiotic drugs once the blood test results are known and type of bacteria has been identified. In rare cases, surgery will be done to remove the dead tissue of the organs that are completely devoid of blood.

Prognosis :

One cannot say for sure that the patient will recover completely from septic shock. The chance of survival depends on the intensity of shock and damage caused to vital organs. Emergency treatment is absolutely necessary for septic shock.