Sepsis is an unconquered challenge in medicine, affecting people of all ages and demographics. Severe sepsis affects approximately 751,000 patients in the United States per annum, with healthcare costs approaching $16.7 billion dollars a year. Mortality from severe sepsis and septic shock approaches 30 - 70 % with 215,000 deaths annually. Thus, sepsis is a disease with healthcare dollars and mortality rates approaching those of heart disease and cancer.

Identifying patients with sepsis, and in particular hypoperfusion, is a challenge to the clinician. A variety of clinical and laboratory findings are helpful, but there is no single test to identify sepsis or assess its severity.

Ischemia and reactive oxygen species play a significant role in the pathogenesis of sepsis. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that septic shock results in dysfunction of autoregulatory mechanisms and misdistribution of blood flow, precipitating both regional and global ischemia. A method that can help rapidly assess hypoperfusion would be clinically useful. Ischemia modified albumin (IMA) is a potential marker for ischemia in acute coronary syndrome patients; thus, it is hypothesized that IMA may be also useful as a prognostic biomarker for clinical identification of infection and the severity of illness in patients with sepsis.