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. 2014 Jan 2;8(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/1754-9493-8-1.

The diagnosis of sepsis revisited - a challenge for young medical scientists in the 21st century

Lawrence A Lynn  1
Affiliations

The diagnosis of sepsis revisited - a challenge for young medical scientists in the 21st century

Lawrence A Lynn. Patient Saf Surg. .

Abstract

In 1991, a well-meaning consensus group of thought leaders derived a simple definition for sepsis which required the breach of only a few static thresholds. More than 20 years later, this simple definition has calcified to become the gold standard for sepsis protocols and research. Yet sepsis clearly comprises a complex, dynamic, and relational distortion of human life. Given the profound scope of the loss of life worldwide, there is a need to disengage from the simple concepts of the past. There is an acute need to develop 21st century approaches which engage sepsis in its true form, as a complex, dynamic, and relational pattern of death.

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