Septic
encephalopathy (SE) is a common term indicating the development of signs of progressing cerebral dysfunction and is associated with the presence of microorganisms and their toxins in the blood. Aim of this investigation was to analyze the frequency of this complication considering the
consciousness disorders in quantitative sense and prognosis of the survival in patients with SE. The investigation comprised patients (n = 54) with positive hemoculture and signs of septic syndrome by the accepted criteria (
fever, clinical signs of
infection, respiratory frequency, heart rate, plasma
lactate,
oliguria). Patients with confirmed cerebral injury,
hemorrhage or
cerebral ischemia were excluded from the study. Lumbar punction and CT-scan of the brain were performed in all patients in order to exclude visible lesions of cerebral parenchyma and eventual presence of cerebral nervous system (
CNS) infection as the causes of
sepsis. Results of the investigation demonstrated that in 30 (55%) of patients existed mild
consciousness disorder at the level of somnolescence, in 18 (33%)
consciousness disorder at the level of sopor and in 6 (11%)
consciousness disorder at the level of deep
coma. Level of
consciousness disorder was in positive correlation with the outcome of
sepsis syndrome, which was additionally confirmed by the fact that only in the group of patients with deep
coma lethal outcome was observed in 3 cases (50% of this subgroup) regardless of intensive
antibiotic, metabolically active and symptomatic
therapy. It can be concluded that SE syndrome has a favorable prognosis if macroscopic lesion and dissemination of microorganisms in CNS are not present, and simultaneously it represents changes in metabolic-electrolytic state with early presentation of
consciousness disorders that represent clinically significant
indicator for
sepsis syndrome outcome.