Lecture Summary

Sepsis is a major global problem. It is currently defined as a dysregulated host response to infection leading to life-threatening organ dysfunction. Heterogeneity in sepsis is hindering the identification of effective therapeutic targets. Recent efforts have centered on stratifying patients into more homogenous subgroups having common dominant pathophysiological features and outcome trajectories. Routinely collected clinical data, for example physiological parameters or measures of organ function, have been used to stratify patients as subphenotypes. In addition, high-throughput molecular profiling, for example blood transcriptomics, have been used to identify patient endotypes with pathophysiological and clinical implications.

Target Audience

All doctors and nurses

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, you should be able to:

• Sepsis is a heterogenous clinical syndrome encompassing distinct subphenotypes and endotypes
• Subphenotypes or endotypes have been associated to differences in short- and long-term outcomes, for example mortality
• Connecting a subphenotype or endotype to a dominant immunopathology is required for future development of precise immunotherapeutics for sepsis

None.