Evaluation of severity in shock

: Shock is defined as organ failure due to the disturbance of perfusion in vital organs and various humoral mediators. Multiple organ failure (MOF) is a typical pathophysiologic condition subsequent to shock. Therefore the severity of shock should be evaluated based on the severity of organ failure. Recent advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of shock have demonstrated that organ failure is the summation of cellular dysfunction in vital organs caused by tissue hypoxia and various humoral mediators. We have developed and clinically applied the cellular injury score (CIS) as a severity scoring system in patients with shock and resultant MOF. The CIS is derived from the scoring of three parameters of intracellular metabolism: the arterial ketone body ratio (AKBR); osmolality gap (OG); and blood lactate level. The CIS correlates well with the degree of organ failure and mortality rate in patients with MOF and accurately indicates the severity of shock in individual patients. Our results suggest that the CIS is a useful scoring system based on the pathophysiology of shock, not only to predict the outcome and evaluate the severity in patients with shock and MOF but also to predict the development of MOF subsequent to shock.