Organ dysfunction

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Organ dysfunction is a condition where an organ does not perform its expected function. Organ failure is organ dysfunction to such a degree that normal homeostasis cannot be maintained without external clinical intervention or life support. It is not a diagnosis. It can be classified by the cause, but when the cause is not known, it can also be classified by whether the onset is chronic or acute.

Multiple organ failure can be associated with sepsis and is often fatal. Countries such as Spain have shown a rise in mortality risk due to a large elderly population there. [1] There are tools physicians use when diagnosing multiple organ failure and when prognosing the outcome. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score [2] uses early lab values in a patient's hospitalization (within 24 hours) to predict fatal outcomes for a patient.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">SOFA score</span> Medical assessment

The sequential organ failure assessment score, previously known as the sepsis-related organ failure assessment score, is used to track a person's status during the stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) to determine the extent of a person's organ function or rate of failure. The score is based on six different scores, one each for the respiratory, cardiovascular, hepatic, coagulation, renal and neurological systems.

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Renal angina is a clinical methodology to risk stratify patients for the development of persistent and severe acute kidney injury (AKI). The composite of risk factors and early signs of injury for AKI, renal angina is used as a clinical adjunct to help optimize the use of novel AKI biomarker testing. The term angina from Latin and from the Greek ankhone ("strangling") are utilized in the context of AKI to denote the development of injury and the choking off of kidney function. Unlike angina pectoris, commonly caused due to ischemia of the heart muscle secondary to coronary artery occlusion or vasospasm, renal angina carries no obvious physical symptomatology. Renal angina was derived as a conceptual framework to identify evolving AKI. Like acute coronary syndrome which precedes or is a sign of a heart attack, renal angina is used as a herald sign for a kidney attack. Detection of renal angina is performed by calculating the renal angina index.

Vasodilatory shock, vasogenic shock, or vasoplegic shock is a medical emergency belonging to shock along with cardiogenic shock, septic shock, allergen-induced shock and hypovolemic shock. When the blood vessels suddenly relax, it results in vasodilation. In vasodilatory shock, the blood vessels are too relaxed leading to extreme vasodilation and blood pressure drops and blood flow becomes very low. Without enough blood pressure, blood and oxygen will not be pushed to reach the body's organs. If vasodilatory shock lasts more than a few minutes, the lack of oxygen starts to damage the body's organs. Vasodilatory shock like other types of shock should be treated quickly, otherwise it can cause permanent organ damage or death as a result of multiple organ dysfunction.

References

  1. Bouza C, López-Cuadrado T, Saz-Parkinson Z, Blanco J (2014). "Epidemiology and recent trends of severe sepsis in Spain: a nationwide population-based analysis (2006-2011)". BMC Infect Dis. 14 (1): 717. doi: 10.1186/s12879-014-0717-7 . PMC   4327809 . PMID   25528662.
  2. Ferreira FL, Bota DP, Bross A, Mélot C, Vincent JL (2001). "Serial evaluation of the SOFA score to predict outcome in critically ill patients". JAMA. 286 (14): 1754–8. doi: 10.1001/jama.286.14.1754 . PMID   11594901.