Gram-Negative Sepsis: Another Piece of the Mosaic

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Abstract
When the natural defenses of the body are suddenly overpowered by sepsis, it is not surprising that complex vascular and metabolic alterations ensue. What is perhaps unexpected is the relative specificity of the responses in gram-negative septicemia that have been revealed by our increasing ability to identify and sort out the multiple physiologic aberrations that compose the mosaic of gram-negative sepsis. Many of the vascular, metabolic and hematologic alterations are attributable to endotoxin, a lipopolysaccharide characteristically present in gram-negative organisms. Although the prominent clinical findings are shock, tissue anoxia and disseminated intravascular coagulation, various subtle features contribute to the picture. . . .