Major sepsis study confirms back to basics approach

In 2001 Rivers et al. published a landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that in a single centre, involving patients presenting to an emergency department with severe sepsis and septic shock, an early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) protocol significantly reduced mortality compared with those receiving usual care. This underpinned the long-standing tenet of medical practice that early detection and treatment of sepsis will reduce mortality.