Complications of septic shock can include: inability of the lungs to take in enough oxygen (respiratory failure) the heart not being able to pump enough blood around the body (heart failure) kidney failure or injury.
What are the possible late effects of sepsis? Many former sepsis patients still complain about impairments years after the disease. Possible late effects of sepsis include nerve and muscle damage, pain, cognitive impairment, reduced resilience and psychological disorders.
Septic shock, the most severe complication of sepsis, carries a high mortality. Septic shock occurs in response to an inciting agent, which causes both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune system activation.
Sepsis can cause serious complications. These include kidney failure, gangrene, and death.
The late phase of sepsis is dominated by immune suppression, leading to the hypothesis that the immune system changes from hyper-inflammatory to hypo-inflammatory phases during sepsis.
Early-onset sepsis usually results from organisms acquired intrapartum, and symptoms appear within 6 hours of birth. Late-onset sepsis is usually acquired from the environment and is more likely in preterm infants, particularly those with prolonged hospitalization, using IV catheters, or both.
Damage to the lungs can affect breathing. Another study, published in 2012 in the journal Shock, researchers found that sepsis survivors may be more vulnerable to developing viral respiratory (lung) infections. Other organs may be damaged as well, such as the kidneys or liver.
Many sepsis survivors suffer from at least one aspect from post-sepsis syndrome, which is characterized by immune dysfunction, cognitive deficits, mental health problems, and cardiovascular/kidney disease, causing decreased quality of life and mortality.
a high temperature (fever) or low body temperature. a change in mental state – like confusion or disorientation. slurred speech. cold, clammy and pale or mottled skin.
Sepsis can overwhelm the body. This can cause vital organs to shut down. This usually starts with the kidneys. Blood pressure can drop dangerously low.
But in many cases, organ damage is permanent. Another serious septic shock complication is tissue death (gangrene) that leads to amputations.
When treatment or medical intervention is missing, sepsis is a leading cause of death, more significant than breast cancer, lung cancer, or heart attack. Research shows that the condition can kill an affected person in as little as 12 hours.
Sepsis causes cerebral dysfunction in the short and long term and induces disruption of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), neuroinflammation, hypoperfusion, and accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) and tau protein in the brain.
In some survivors the immune system, which would normally help them fight off infections, is not as effective following their sepsis. The result of this is they find they are getting one infection after another. This could be coughs and colds, repeated water infections or a wound infection that keeps coming back.
Survivors are often told that they have been cured and that they are lucky to have survived. But many are caught off guard by lasting effects, both physical and mental, that sepsis can leave behind. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety are not unusual among survivors.
Pain, agitation, and delirium are common with sepsis and are associated with an increased risk of mortality, cognitive impairment, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Reade and Finfer 2014).
NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - urges hospital staff to treat people with life-threatening sepsis within one hour, in its quality standard. In clinical practice, this is often referred to as the 'golden hour' after diagnosis.
Septic shock is the most severe level and is diagnosed when your blood pressure drops to dangerous levels.
Recovering from sepsis
You might continue to have physical and emotional symptoms. These can last for months, or even years, after you had sepsis. These long-term effects are sometimes called post-sepsis syndrome, and can include: feeling very tired and weak, and difficulty sleeping.
The three stages of sepsis are: sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. When your immune system goes into overdrive in response to an infection, sepsis may develop as a result.
Sepsis can lead to organ damage, including the kidneys and liver. In some cases, it can also lead to eye problems, including vision loss. For example, the original organism that caused the initial infection may spread to the eyes and damage vision.
In the most severe cases, septic shock, for every hour that appropriate antibiotic administration is delayed, there is an 8% increase in mortality7. The Sepsis Six is an initial resuscitation bundle designed to offer basic intervention within the first hour.
Sepsis can develop quickly from initial infection and progress to septic shock in as little as 12 to 24 hours.1 You may have an infection that's not improving or you could even be sick without realizing it.
A 2018 retrospective analysis of more than 2 million U.S. sepsis hospitalizations reported that the median length of stay (LOS) for sepsis increased with disease severity ranging from 7.7 days, 10 days, and 12.6 days for sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock, respectively.