Introduction:

sepsis is the unregulated response of the body to an infection. It is recognized by a set of clinical, hemodynamic, hematological, biochemical and inflammatory manifestations, which are part of a global organic response. It is a complex and controversial disease in terms of its classification, epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis and treatment. It is one of the most frequent conditions in hospitals and especially in ICUs. Several recent epidemiological studies show that its incidence increases, and that it has exceeded other diseases such as stroke, cancer or myocardial infarction, since, in addition to generate a significant consumption of resources, it presents a high mortality, which in the case of septic shock can reach figures close to 50%.

Objective:

to conduct a review of the available evidence on the relationship between early diagnosis and mortality due to sepsis.

Methods:

a systematic search of publications was carried out in Medline, PubMed, and Elsevier databases; the terms sepsis, septic shock, severe sepsis, and cytokines were used.

Results:

42 publications from a total of 111 were selected to write this article. All documents were reviewed and those that were transcendental were chosen for understanding the physiopathological characteristics and evolution of sepsis; the fundamental role of early diagnosis and its relationship with mortality was highlighted.