[Follow-up of infected patients in an intensive care unit using the "infection score," endotoxin and AT III determination].

74 patients treated in the intensive care unit for postoperative sepsis were prospectively documented. The severity of sepsis was monitored by a scoring system. Additionally, daily measurements of antithrombin III (AT-III) levels, thrombocytes and endotoxin plasma concentrations were performed. The sepsis score only discriminated between surviving and non-surviving patients. The sensitivity in predicting death due to sepsis was 94%, the specificity 80% in case that a sepsis score of 19 was achieved. In contrast, thrombocytes, endotoxin plasma concentrations and AT-III levels were not able to predict the final outcome, but could be correlated to the severity of sepsis. Since high score levels can also be caused by multiple organ failure due to other reasons, the septic condition of the patients should be defined in the future by the combination of this scoring system with the endotoxin or AT-III measurement.