Patients should be screened for sepsis after surgery, say researchers

After surgery, patients are more likely to die from sepsis or septic shock than from heart attacks or blood clots in the lungs, according to newly published research.  One-third of patients who develop septic shock after surgery die within thirty days after their surgery.  Sepsis is also called blood poisoning and is usually caused by bacterial infection in the blood.  Septic shock after surgery kills 10 times more patients than heart attacks.  The researchers recommended that postoperative patients be more highly scrutinized for sepsis, a measure which would save lives.  Factors found to increase a patient's risk of developing sepsis or septic shock include having emergency surgery, having other health problems, and being older than 60.