Another change has occurred in the last decade: we have learned a great deal about the
cascade of inflammatory mediators that underlies sepsis. There appears to be a common
pathway by which a variety of infectious organisms, and also noninfectious stimuli, can
produce widespread endothelial inflammation; this common pathway, and its clinical
sequelae, have recently been termed the “systemic inflammatory response
syndrome”(SIRS). iO The term “sepsis” is reserved for those patients with SIRS of infectious …