الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Sepsis is one of the most common causes for mortality in the intensive care unit (ICU). Sepsis is defined as the presence (probable or documented) of infection together with systemic manifestations of infection. There is a continuum of severity ranging from sepsis to severe sepsis and septic shock. Severe sepsis and septic shock are major healthcare problems, affecting millions of people around the world each year, and are increasing in incidence.
In the early stages of septic shock, sepsis-induced hypotension is one of the main stimuli of vasopressin secretion, causing an increase in the hormone serum levels which contributes to the maintenance of arterial pressure.Copeptin, which is the C-terminal fragment of provasopressin peptide (CT-proAVP) and is co-released in an equimolar ratio with vasopressin, instead, is a stable peptide in EDTA plasma and can be used as a surrogate biomarker of arginine vasopressin.
The aim of this study is to determine the level of serum copeptin in patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock and correlate its level with the severityofsepsis and the outcome.
This study was conducted on60 patients who were admitted to the Internal Medicine department and Critical Care department of Alexandria Main University Hospital. Thepatients were diagnosed with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock according to the criteria of the 2001 SCCM/ESICM/ ACCP/ATS/SIS International Sepsis Definitions Conference and surviving sepsis campaign guidelinesandclassified.