[Ministry of Health Intensive Care Medicine Commission: proposals for the development of the discipline].

Intensive care medicine in Chile is still in its dawn. It has experienced a progressive growth in the last decade, but continues to be weak. Although investments in the discipline have increased fivefold, there is still a severe deficiency of intensive care specialists.

[Evaluation of sublingual microcirculation in septic shock. Report of one patient treated with high volume hemofiltration].

Microcirculation is severely compromised in sepsis, with a reduction of capillary density and flow impairment. These alterations have important prognostic implications, being more severe in non-survivors to septic shock. Today microcirculation may be assessed bedside, non-invasively using polarized light videomicroscopy a technique known as SDF (side dark field).