Systemic inflammatory response syndrome. We do not mean to say that hypoxia and
infection do not cause MODS. Several precipitating factors such as hypoxia, infection,
trauma, failure of a transplanted organ, etc., can lead to the development of the syndrome.
The syndrome is probably the final common pathway for a number of these events. These initial insults most likely manifest themselves as the MODS when endogenous mediators
are released in excessive amounts or because of a number of other predisposing factors,
i.e., immunosuppression in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS) and organ failure from iatrogenic causes (aminoglycoside nephrotoxicity) either
of which, in essence, leads to a systemic inflammatory response syndrome [23]. The latter
can occur without the presence of documented infection and manifests itself by two or
more of the conditions listed in Table 2.