Abstract
Purpose of Review Various definitions and scoring systems for sepsis were available but none of them was perfect due to the incomplete knowledge of sepsis syndrome pathobiology. Sepsis is a collection of diseases described mainly by systemic host response to infection. An international consensus first defined sepsis in 1991 and was later updated in 2001. Definitions of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock remained the same for two decades. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria were used widely in hospitals to identify sepsis. The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (sepsis-3) recently revisited the definition. Sepsis and septic shock definitions were revised, while severe sepsis was omitted and considered to be redundant.
Recent Findings The development in understanding sepsis pathobiology led to this new definition by a task force of sepsis clinicians and researchers. The sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) was developed to recognize sepsis, which replaced the SIRS criteria. Quick SOFA (qSOFA) was developed for patients outside intensive care units (ICUs) as a risk stratification tool to determine patients with suspected infection and poor outcomes in a quicker manner.
Summary The third international sepsis consensus definitions task force aims to differentiate sepsis from uncomplicated infection and to update definitions of sepsis and septic shock as knowledge of sepsis syndrome pathobiology continues to improve.