Inflammation and Genomics in the Critical Care Unit

Inflammation is a physiologic response to irritants, injury, and infection. Inflammatory dysregulation is believed to contribute to mortality and morbidity in illnesses common to critical care units, such as burns, trauma, sepsis, and cardiovascular disease. This article reviews the approaches used to investigate the molecular basis of inflammatory function. Genomic findings are providing insight into clinical diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory derangements in critically ill patients.