Functional integrity of complex organisms (including man) requires physiological adaptation
to ordinary and extraordinary stress. When stress exceeds adaptive capacity, one or
more physiologic systems "fails"; without intervention, the organism dies. Clinical medicine
offers system-specific supports that have proven necessary but often insufficient to
promote recovery of function despite anatomic integrity and relief from the inciting
stress. Either the underlying relationships of the physiological adaptive systems have
been substantially altered or the depth of the basin of attraction described as multiple organ
dysfunction is sufficiently deep to make escape improbable using current organ support
strategies. Experimental alternative organ system support strategies that emulate
healthy biological variability have accelerated recovery of dysfunctional organ systems.