Pathophysiology of sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction

Sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction is a common complication in septic patients and is associated with increased mortality. In the clinical setting, it was once believed that myocardial dysfunction was not a major pathological process in the septic patients, at least in part, due to the unavailability of suitable clinical markers to assess intrinsic myocardial function during sepsis. Although sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction has been studied in clinical and basic research for more than 30 years, its pathophysiology is not completely understood, and no specific therapies for this disorder exist. The purpose of this review is to summarize our current knowledge of sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction with a special focus on pathogenesis and clinical characteristics.