Organ dysfunction

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Organ dysfunction" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Organ dysfunction is a condition where an organ does not perform its expected function. Organ failure is organ dysfunction to such a degree that normal homeostasis cannot be maintained without external clinical intervention or life support. It is not a diagnosis. It can be classified by the cause, but when the cause is not known, it can also be classified by whether the onset is chronic or acute.

Multiple organ failure can be associated with sepsis and is often fatal. Countries such as Spain have shown a rise in mortality risk due to a large elderly population there.^[1] There are tools physicians use when diagnosing multiple organ failure and when prognosing the outcome. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score^[2] uses early lab values in a patient's hospitalization (within 24 hours) to predict fatal outcomes for a patient.

• Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score

This medical diagnostic article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e