A progressive condition usually characterized by combined failure of several organs such as the lungs, liver, kidney, along with some clotting mechanisms, usually postinjury or postoperative.

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome with a proven or suspected infectious etiology. When sepsis is associated with organ dysfunction distant from the site of infection, it is called severe sepsis. When sepsis is accompanied by HYPOTENSION despite adequate fluid infusion, it is called SEPTIC SHOCK.

A systemic inflammatory response to a variety of clinical insults, characterized by two or more of the following conditions: (1) fever >38 degrees C or HYPOTHERMIA 90 beat/minute; (3) tachypnea >24 breaths/minute; (4) LEUKOCYTOSIS >12,000 cells/cubic mm or 10% immature forms. While usually related to infection, SIRS can also be associated with noninfectious insults such as TRAUMA; BURNS; or PANCREATITIS. If infection is involved, a patient with SIRS is said to have SEPSIS.

Acute hemorrhage or excessive fluid loss resulting in HYPOVOLEMIA.

Death resulting from the presence of a disease in an individual, as shown by a single case report or a limited number of patients. This should be differentiated from DEATH, the physiological cessation of life and from MORTALITY, an epidemiological or statistical concept.

Sepsis associated with HYPOTENSION or hypoperfusion despite adequate fluid resuscitation. Perfusion abnormalities may include, but are not limited to LACTIC ACIDOSIS; OLIGURIA; or acute alteration in mental status.

An acronym for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation, a scoring system using routinely collected data and providing an accurate, objective description for a broad range of intensive care unit admissions, measuring severity of illness in critically ill patients.

A disease or state in which death is possible or imminent.

A dangerous life-threatening hypermetabolic condition characterized by high FEVER and dysfunction of the cardiovascular, the nervous, and the gastrointestinal systems.

INFLAMMATION of the PANCREAS. Pancreatitis is classified as acute unless there are computed tomographic or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographic findings of CHRONIC PANCREATITIS (International Symposium on Acute Pancreatitis, Atlanta, 1992). The two most common forms of acute pancreatitis are ALCOHOLIC PANCREATITIS and gallstone pancreatitis.

Advanced and highly specialized care provided to medical or surgical patients whose conditions are life-threatening and require comprehensive care and constant monitoring. It is usually administered in specially equipped units of a health care facility.

An anatomic severity scale based on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and developed specifically to score multiple traumatic injuries. It has been used as a predictor of mortality.

Hospital units providing continuous surveillance and care to acutely ill patients.

Injuries caused by impact with a blunt object where there is no penetration of the skin.

A heterogeneous condition in which the heart is unable to pump out sufficient blood to meet the metabolic need of the body. Heart failure can be caused by structural defects, functional abnormalities (VENTRICULAR DYSFUNCTION), or a sudden overload beyond its capacity. Chronic heart failure is more common than acute heart failure which results from sudden insult to cardiac function, such as MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION.

A disorder characterized by procoagulant substances entering the general circulation causing a systemic thrombotic process. The activation of the clotting mechanism may arise from any of a number of disorders. A majority of the patients manifest skin lesions, sometimes leading to PURPURA FULMINANS.

Removal of plasma and replacement with various fluids, e.g., fresh frozen plasma, plasma protein fractions (PPF), albumin preparations, dextran solutions, saline. Used in treatment of autoimmune diseases, immune complex diseases, diseases of excess plasma factors, and other conditions.

Disease having a short and relatively severe course.

Damage inflicted on the body as the direct or indirect result of an external force, with or without disruption of structural continuity.

Multiple physical insults or injuries occurring simultaneously.

A syndrome characterized by progressive life-threatening RESPIRATORY INSUFFICIENCY in the absence of known LUNG DISEASES, usually following a systemic insult such as surgery or major TRAUMA.

Evaluation undertaken to assess the results or consequences of management and procedures used in combating disease in order to determine the efficacy, effectiveness, safety, and practicability of these interventions in individual cases or series.

Ratings that express, in numerical values, the degree of impairment or abnormality in the function of specific organs.

Abrupt reduction in kidney function. Acute kidney injury encompasses the entire spectrum of the syndrome including acute kidney failure; ACUTE KIDNEY TUBULAR NECROSIS; and other less severe conditions.

Health care provided to a critically ill patient during a medical emergency or crisis.

A condition of lung damage that is characterized by bilateral pulmonary infiltrates (PULMONARY EDEMA) rich in NEUTROPHILS, and in the absence of clinical HEART FAILURE. This can represent a spectrum of pulmonary lesions, endothelial and epithelial, due to numerous factors (physical, chemical, or biological).

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

Levels within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria applied to the seriousness of a patient's disorder.

Specialized hospital facilities which provide diagnostic and therapeutic services for trauma patients.

A vital statistic measuring or recording the rate of death from any cause in hospitalized populations.

Any method of artificial breathing that employs mechanical or non-mechanical means to force the air into and out of the lungs. Artificial respiration or ventilation is used in individuals who have stopped breathing or have RESPIRATORY INSUFFICIENCY to increase their intake of oxygen (O2) and excretion of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Either of the pair of organs occupying the cavity of the thorax that effect the aeration of the blood.

Injuries to tissues caused by contact with heat, steam, chemicals (BURNS, CHEMICAL), electricity (BURNS, ELECTRIC), or the like.

Pathologic processes that affect patients after a surgical procedure. They may or may not be related to the disease for which the surgery was done, and they may or may not be direct results of the surgery.

A large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates that is responsible for detoxification, metabolism, synthesis and storage of various substances.

A pathological process characterized by injury or destruction of tissues caused by a variety of cytologic and chemical reactions. It is usually manifested by typical signs of pain, heat, redness, swelling, and loss of function.

A vitamin-K dependent zymogen present in the blood, which, upon activation by thrombin and thrombomodulin exerts anticoagulant properties by inactivating factors Va and VIIIa at the rate-limiting steps of thrombin formation.

Incision into the side of the abdomen between the ribs and pelvis.

Body organ that filters blood for the secretion of URINE and that regulates ion concentrations.

The transfer of erythrocytes from a donor to a recipient or reinfusion to the donor.

Measurable and quantifiable biological parameters (e.g., specific enzyme concentration, specific hormone concentration, specific gene phenotype distribution in a population, presence of biological substances) which serve as indices for health- and physiology-related assessments, such as disease risk, psychiatric disorders, environmental exposure and its effects, disease diagnosis, metabolic processes, substance abuse, pregnancy, cell line development, epidemiologic studies, etc.

A measure of the quality of health care by assessment of unsuccessful results of management and procedures used in combating disease, in individual cases or series.

Naturally occurring or experimentally induced animal diseases with pathological processes sufficiently similar to those of human diseases. They are used as study models for human diseases.

INFLAMMATION of the PERITONEUM lining the ABDOMINAL CAVITY as the result of infectious, autoimmune, or chemical processes. Primary peritonitis is due to infection of the PERITONEAL CAVITY via hematogenous or lymphatic spread and without intra-abdominal source. Secondary peritonitis arises from the ABDOMINAL CAVITY itself through RUPTURE or ABSCESS of intra-abdominal organs.

The pathological process occurring in cells that are dying from irreparable injuries. It is caused by the progressive, uncontrolled action of degradative ENZYMES, leading to MITOCHONDRIAL SWELLING, nuclear flocculation, and cell lysis. It is distinct it from APOPTOSIS, which is a normal, regulated cellular process.

A prediction of the probable outcome of a disease based on a individual's condition and the usual course of the disease as seen in similar situations.

An abnormal balloon- or sac-like dilatation in the wall of the ABDOMINAL AORTA which gives rise to the visceral, the parietal, and the terminal (iliac) branches below the aortic hiatus at the diaphragm.

A pathological condition manifested by failure to perfuse or oxygenate vital organs.

Non-antibody proteins secreted by inflammatory leukocytes and some non-leukocytic cells, that act as intercellular mediators. They differ from classical hormones in that they are produced by a number of tissue or cell types rather than by specialized glands. They generally act locally in a paracrine or autocrine rather than endocrine manner.

A class of statistical procedures for estimating the survival function (function of time, starting with a population 100% well at a given time and providing the percentage of the population still well at later times). The survival analysis is then used for making inferences about the effects of treatments, prognostic factors, exposures, and other covariates on the function.

The period of confinement of a patient to a hospital or other health facility.

The proportion of survivors in a group, e.g., of patients, studied and followed over a period, or the proportion of persons in a specified group alive at the beginning of a time interval who survive to the end of the interval. It is often studied using life table methods.

Transference of an organ between individuals of the same species or between individuals of different species.

The transference of a part of or an entire liver from one human or animal to another.

A severe form of acute INFLAMMATION of the PANCREAS characterized by one or more areas of NECROSIS in the pancreas with varying degree of involvement of the surrounding tissues or organ systems. Massive pancreatic necrosis may lead to DIABETES MELLITUS, and malabsorption.

Bleeding or escape of blood from a vessel.

The section of the alimentary canal from the STOMACH to the ANAL CANAL. It includes the LARGE INTESTINE and SMALL INTESTINE.

The introduction of whole blood or blood component directly into the blood stream. (Dorland, 27th ed)

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Severe inability of the LIVER to perform its normal metabolic functions, as evidenced by severe JAUNDICE and abnormal serum levels of AMMONIA; BILIRUBIN; ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE; ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE; LACTATE DEHYDROGENASES; and albumin/globulin ratio. (Blakiston's Gould Medical Dictionary, 4th ed)

Lipid-containing polysaccharides which are endotoxins and important group-specific antigens. They are often derived from the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria and induce immunoglobulin secretion. The lipopolysaccharide molecule consists of three parts: LIPID A, core polysaccharide, and O-specific chains (O ANTIGENS). When derived from Escherichia coli, lipopolysaccharides serve as polyclonal B-cell mitogens commonly used in laboratory immunology. (From Dorland, 28th ed)

Serum glycoprotein produced by activated MACROPHAGES and other mammalian MONONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES. It has necrotizing activity against tumor cell lines and increases ability to reject tumor transplants. Also known as TNF-alpha, it is only 30% homologous to TNF-beta (LYMPHOTOXIN), but they share TNF RECEPTORS.

A cytokine that stimulates the growth and differentiation of B-LYMPHOCYTES and is also a growth factor for HYBRIDOMAS and plasmacytomas. It is produced by many different cells including T-LYMPHOCYTES; MONOCYTES; and FIBROBLASTS.

Inbred C57BL mice are a strain of laboratory mice that have been produced by many generations of brother-sister matings, resulting in a high degree of genetic uniformity and homozygosity, making them widely used for biomedical research, including studies on genetics, immunology, cancer, and neuroscience.

The administrative procedures involved with acquiring TISSUES or organs for TRANSPLANTATION through various programs, systems, or organizations. These procedures include obtaining consent from TISSUE DONORS and arranging for transportation of donated tissues and organs, after TISSUE HARVESTING, to HOSPITALS for processing and transplantation.

Tomography using x-ray transmission and a computer algorithm to reconstruct the image.

Granular leukocytes having a nucleus with three to five lobes connected by slender threads of chromatin, and cytoplasm containing fine inconspicuous granules and stainable by neutral dyes.

A form of rapid-onset LIVER FAILURE, also known as fulminant hepatic failure, caused by severe liver injury or massive loss of HEPATOCYTES. It is characterized by sudden development of liver dysfunction and JAUNDICE. Acute liver failure may progress to exhibit cerebral dysfunction even HEPATIC COMA depending on the etiology that includes hepatic ISCHEMIA, drug toxicity, malignant infiltration, and viral hepatitis such as post-transfusion HEPATITIS B and HEPATITIS C.

Any infection which a patient contracts in a health-care institution.

Failure to adequately provide oxygen to cells of the body and to remove excess carbon dioxide from them. (Stedman, 25th ed)

A strain of albino rat developed at the Wistar Institute that has spread widely at other institutions. This has markedly diluted the original strain.