Microbiological diagnosis of sepsis: the confounding effects of a "gold standard".

The need of rapid and sensitive diagnostic techniques for sepsis is every day more compelling. Its morbidity and mortality loads are dramatically high, with one quarter of patients eventually dying. Several diagnostic progresses have been made in the last years using both molecular- and nonmolecular-based approaches, and they have to be broadly shared in the scientific community also under the technical point of view. The initial chapters of this book give a thorough overlook of the state of the art in the actual diagnosis of sepsis. The other chapters provide a broad range of protocols describing both already used and futuristic tools, covering both microbiological and nonmicrobiological aspects. The potential role of each described protocol is evidenced by a brief introduction on the specific topic of each chapter. A final chapter describing algorithms potentially useful in stratifying the risk of sepsis in each single patient and suggesting the future perspectives in the diagnosis of sepsis closes the book.