Medical Dictionary

systemic inflammatory response syndrome

noun

Medical Definition of SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE SYNDROME

:  a severe systemic response to a condition (as trauma, an infection, or a burn) that provokes an acute inflammatory reaction indicated by the presence of two or more of a group of symptoms including abnormally increased or decreased body temperature, heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute, respiratory rate greater than 20 breaths per minute or a reduced concentration of carbon dioxide in the arterial blood, and the white blood cell count greatly decreased or increased or consisting of more than ten percent immature neutrophils—abbreviation SIRS; see sepsis

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