Promising New Treatment for Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition associated with an inflammatory response to infection that has the potential to cause multiple organ failure. Sepsis kills more people in the hospital than any other disease. Worldwide, Sepsis is estimated to impact 15 to 19 million people annually with a mortality rate approaching 60% in low income countries.

Many people in the scientific and medical communities are hoping that the findings of Dr. Paul Marik in the Journal Chest will revolutionize the treatment of Sepsis. Dr. Marik, working from preliminary research findings by Dr. Berry Fowler and his colleagues at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, began treating septic patients with an intravenous cocktail of vitamin C, low dose of corticosteroids, and thiamine (another vitamin).

After Dr. Marik treated 50 patients, he submitted his results to Chest. Of 47 patients treated with the vitamin C cocktail, only four died in the hospital. Of the four deaths, all were from their underlying diseases – not from sepsis. For a control, Dr. Marik looked back at 47 septic patients treated previously in his hospital without vitamin C infusion and found that 19 had died. While the data is still suggestive, the outlook is promising.

Dr. Fowler and his laboratory at VCU was recently awarded a $3.2 million grant from the NIH to run a controlled study to examine the use of vitamin C to treat sepsis. The study will be conducted at several universities and be double-blinded (information about the test kept from the testers and participants) as to limit bias, both intentional or unconscious.

We are excited about the potential of this research and the tremendous potential this will have on both patients and the healthcare industry.

We learned of the success and studies from NPR, in their article Doctor Turns Up Possible Treatment for Deadly Sepsis.