Utility of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria in predicting the onset of septic shock in hospitalized patients with hematologic malignancies.

Background: The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria have not been validated in patients with hematologic malignancies (HM).

Objective: To determine whether daily assessment of SIRS criteria allows early identification of HM patients who will develop septic shock (SS).

Design: Observational, single-center,nested case-control study.