The challenge of recognising sepsis: Future nanotechnology solutions

Abstract

The urgent need to start anti-infective therapeutic interventions in suspected sepsis, and the lack of specific time-critical diagnostic information often lead to the widespread administration of broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapies, increasing the risk of unwanted patient harms and contributing to rising pathogen antimicrobial resistance. Nanotechnology, which involves engineering at the nanoscale, allows for the bespoke development of diagnostic solutions with multi-functionality and high sensitivity that has the potential to help provide time-critical information to make more accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions for sepsis. Nanotechnologies also have the potential to improve upon the current strategies used for novel biomarker discovery. Here we describe some of the current limitations to identifying sepsis and explore the potential role for nanotechnology solutions.