• Generalities.- Sepsis: The Magnitude of the Problem.- Diagnosis and Source of Sepsis: The Utility of Clinical Findings.- Organ Failure.- Markers of Sepsis.- Genetic Predisposition.- Quantifying Risk in Sepsis: A Review of Illness Severity and Organ Dysfunction Scoring.- Pathophysiology.- The Pathogenesis of Gram-Negative Sepsis.- The Pathophysiology of Gram-Positive Shock.- Immunopathogenesis of Gram-Negative Shock.- Involvement of Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines in Sepsis.- Pathophysiology of Immunodepression in ICU Patients.- Pathophysiology of Sepsis: The Role of Nitric Oxide.- Apoptosis and the Resolution of Inflammation in Sepsis.- Microvascular Alterations in Sepsis.- Cytopathic Hypoxia.- Monitoring Systems.- Invasive Hemodynamic Monitoring.- Value of SvO2 in Sepsis.- Blood Lactate Concentrations in Sepsis.- Veno-Arterial PCO2 Gradient.- Gas Tonometry.- General Support.- General Hemodynamic Support.- Fluid Administration.- Blood Transfusion and Sepsis.- Catecholamine Therapy.- Regional Effects of Catecholamines.- Management of Respiratory Dysfunction in Patients with Severe Sepsis.- The Role of Nutritional Support in Sepsis.- Microbial Aspects.- The Sources of Sepsis.- Catheter-Related Sepsis.- Control of the Source of Sepsis.- Empirical Antibiotic Therapy for Patients with Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock.- Candida Infections in the Intensive Care Unit.- Why, When, and How to Isolate ICU Patients.- Complications.- The Lung in Sepsis.- The Heart in Sepsis.- The Brain in Sepsis.- The Gut in Sepsis.- The Kidney in Sepsis.- The Coagulation System in Sepsis.- Anti-sepsis Therapies.- Shoulder Fever be Treated in Sepsis?.- Anti-Cytokine Therapy.- Heat Shock Proteins and Sepsis: A Hot Story.- Immunodepression in the Surgical Patient and Increased Susceptibility to Infection.- The Place of Corticosteroids.- The Place of Immunonutrition.- Interference with the Coagulation System.- Hemofiltration and Plasmapheresis.- Endotoxin Analogs in the Treatment of Septic Shock.- Vaccines Against Bacterial Endotoxins.

"The goald of the editors of The Sepsis Text was to provide a comprehensive review of recent achievements in the management of sepsis, based on basic and applied research performed in recent years by innovative scientists and clinical investigators worldwide ... excellent chapter on coagulation ...The editors and contributing authors should be congratulated for their excellent reviews of recent progress in our understanding of sepsis and in its management. The Sepsis Text clearly conveys their enthusiasm and provides encouragement to all those working in the field." (Greet Van den Berghe, Catholic University of Leuven in The New England Journal of Medicine, 347:15 (2002)