Understanding the PIRO concept: from theory to clinical practice - Part 1

Despite recent advances in diagnosis and care of critically ill patients sepsis related mortality rate remains unacceptably Figura 1 – Uma visao baseada no PIRO da fisiopatologia de infeccoes graves: o caso da pneumonia. SIRS Systemic Inflammation Response Syndrome [sindrome de resposta inflamatoria sistemica] ; CARS compensatory anti-inflammatory response syndrome [sindrome de resposta antiinflamatoria compensatoria; MODS Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome [sindrome de disfuncao de multiplos orgaos]. high. Therefore, new methods of evaluation are necessary to provide an earlier and more accurate characterization of septic patients. Based on the (oncologic) TNM system, the PIRO concept was introduced as a new staging system for sepsis in order to assess risk and predict prognosis, with potential to assist in inclusion of patients in clinical studies and estimate the probability of response of patients to specific therapeutic