Sepsis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sepsis, including details on septicemia, diagnosis, symptoms, treatment.

Statins and sepsis.

Gao F, Linhartova L, Johnston AM, Thickett DR

Academic Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, University of Warwick, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, Bordesley Green East, Birmingham B9 5SS, UK. f.g.smith@bham.ac.uk

Severe sepsis and septic shock is common and frequently fatal. Over the last few years, the primary treatments demonstrated to improve outcome from several major clinical trials have finally emerged. However, translating these recent therapeutic advances to routine clinical practice has proven controversial, and new approaches of additional strategies are continued to be developed. Given their pleiotropic effects related to many pathophysiological determinants of sepsis, statin therapy could be the next step in the search for adjuvant therapy. A future challenge may be to test both the efficacy and the safety by large randomized controlled clinical trials ascertaining the effects of statins administered at the onset of sepsis and in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock admitted into intensive care units.

Published 15 February 2008 in Br J Anaesth, 100(3): 288-98.
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