The evolving landscape of sepsis: from empiricism to precision medicine
9:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM BST / 6:00 PM CEST
Sepsis remains a leading cause of mortality in critically ill patients, yet its definition and management continue to rely on simplified frameworks centred on infection and organ dysfunction. This paradigm fails to capture the biological complexity and heterogeneity observed in clinical practice. Emerging evidence, including insights from respiratory infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia, supports a model in which sepsis represents a dynamic syndrome driven by interactions between microbial ecosystems, host-response dysregulation, and environmental factors.
Alterations in the lung microbiome, including reduced diversity and pathogen selection under antimicrobial pressure, interact with host immune responses ranging from hyperinflammation to immune suppression. These processes evolve over time, shaping distinct clinical phenotypes and trajectories rather than a single disease entity. Advances in molecular diagnostics and machine learning further highlight the importance of temporal patterns, enabling identification of subgroups that may respond differently to antimicrobial and adjunctive therapies.
This evolving understanding challenges traditional empiricism and supports a transition toward precision medicine. In this webinar, Prof. Ignacio Martin-Loeches will discuss how integrating microbiological data, host-response biomarkers, and dynamic clinical variables may allow more rational antimicrobial use and targeted immunomodulation. Ultimately, redefining sepsis as a heterogeneous, time-dependent syndrome is essential to improve patient outcomes and move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches.
Speaker
Ignacio Martin-Loeches, MB, BCh, MD, PhD, EMBA, FJFICMI is a Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and Consultant at St James’s Hospital, Ireland. He serves as Chair of the Critical Care Group at the European Respiratory Society and Chair of Research at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. A former Steering Committee member of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, he currently leads the ERS European Network for ICU-related Respiratory Infections. He has authored over 600 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 101, >40,000 citations), initiated the first clinical trials for sepsis at St James’s Hospital (TCD), secured more than €5 million in research funding, and delivered invited lectures in over 40 countries worldwide.