Sepsis differential diagnosis

Resident Survival Guide

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, M.B.B.S. [2]

Overview

Sepsis must be differentiated from other syndromes such as the acute bacterial endocarditis, myocardial ring abscess, subacute bacterial endocarditis and bacterial meningitis.

Differential Diagnosis

Sepsis must be differentiated from other causes of shock and fever based on clinical and hemodynamic findings.

Classification of shock based on hemodynamic parameters.

Type of Shock	Etiology	CO	SVR	PCWP	CVP	SVO2	RVS	RVD	PAS	PAD
Cardiogenic	Acute Ventricular Septal Defect	↓↓	↑	N — ↑	↑↑	↑ — ↑↑	N — ↑	↑	N — ↑	N — ↑
	Acute Mitral Regurgitation	↓↓	↑	↑↑	↑ — ↑↑	↓	↑	N — ↑	↑	↑
	Myocardial Dysfunction	↓↓	↑	↑↑	↑↑	↓	N — ↑	N — ↑	N — ↑	↑
	Right Ventricular Infarction	↓↓	↑	N — ↓	↑↑	↓	↓ — ↑	↑	↓ — ↑	↓ — ↑
Obstructive	Pulmonary Embolism	↓↓	↑	N — ↓	↑↑	↓	↓ — ↑	↑	↓ — ↑	↓ — ↑
	Cardiac Tamponade	↓ — ↓↓	↑	↑↑	↑↑	↓	N — ↑	↑	N — ↑	N — ↑
Distributive	Septic Shock	N — ↑↑	↓ — ↓↓	N — ↓	N — ↓	↑ — ↑↑	N — ↓	N — ↓	↓	↓
	Anaphylactic Shock	N — ↑↑	↓ — ↓↓	N — ↓	N — ↓	↑ — ↑↑	N — ↓	N — ↓	↓	↓
Hypovolemic	Volume Depletion	↓↓	↑	↓↓	↓↓	↓	N — ↓	N — ↓	↓	↓

Abbreviations: CO: cardiac output, CVP: central venous pressure, PAD: pulmonary artery diastolic pressure. PAS: pulmonary artery systolic pressure, RVD: right ventricular diastolic pressure.RVS: right ventricular systolic pressure. SVO2: systemic venous oxygen saturation, SVR: systemic vascular resistance.

Other non-infectious causes of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) that must be considered include:

• Postoperative recovery
• Penetrating trauma
• Burns
• Transplant rejection
• Hyperthyroidism
• Addisonian crisis
• Blood product transfusion reactions
• Serum sickness
• Immunizations
• CNS infarction or hemorrhages
• Leukemia
• Malignant hyperthermia
• Neuroleptic malignant syndrome
• Serotonergic syndrome
• Delirium tremens
• Metformin lactic acidosis