*Ascorbic Acid in Sepsis and Septic Shock DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109515*

of sepsis. We can learn about recent interaction with an infectious agent, implanted devices like a pacemaker or defibrillator, immunosuppression, and the presence of catheters like a port-a-cath or pigtail from the history. One of the most typical clinical signs of sepsis is fever. When there is no fever, we start to consider other things, including age, shock, chronic renal failure, and immunosuppression.

Since the majority of sepsis patients exhibit the distinctive symptoms, the search for the Systemic Inflammatory Reaction Syndrome criteria is highly helpful. Prothrombin time and fibrin degradation product testing should be performed on every patient with a suspicion of sepsis to determine whether the coagulation mechanism has been activated (D-dimmers). Keep in mind that we will see elevated D-dimmers and an extended prothrombin time as a result of thrombocytopenia. Because of tissue hypoxia and the initiation of anaerobic metabolism, lactic acid levels have increased.

Finding the infection will be greatly helped by obtaining blood cultures. Keep in mind that two blood cultures must be obtained. Based on clinical findings and signs of inflammation (redness at the catheter entry site) from the clinical examination, cultures should be obtained from other sites if necessary. This is because, in order of frequency, sepsis-causing infections include pneumonia, urinary tract infections, intra-abdominal infections, skin infections, and catheters in central vessels. For sepsis, about 80 diagnostic and prognostic markers (such as protein C, IL-6, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein) have been studied.

Although an increase in their price is associated with an increase in mortality, none of them are very helpful in the diagnosis of sepsis due to their low sensitivity. Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein are largely the markers that are most frequently employed (CRP). It is advised to take the elevated values into account along with the patient's clinical profile and the findings of any paraclinical testing [2, 5].
