Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Septic Shock and Sepsis Associated Encephalopathy: Cross-Sectional Observational Study

Background: Diffuse brain damage known as sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) develops as a consequence of the body's inflammatory reaction to sepsis. Patients in the intensive care unit who experience severe neurological impairment often have SAE. Seizures, headaches, blurred vision, altered states of consciousness (delirium to coma), and localized neurological damage are all symptoms of sudden adverse events (SAE), the pathogenesis of which is still not fully understood.Aim and objectives: To investigate MRI brain findings in patients with septic shock and sepsis associated encephalopathy to identify the pattern of brain lesions or repeated structural pathology and enable us to correlate the radiological findings. It is, moreover, finding out the role of MRI brain in predictive of the prognosis of sepsis patients in order to assess the relation between sequential organ failure score (SOFA) score and MRI brain finding and mortality.Patients and methods: Fifty patients from Sayed Galal University Hospital's Critical Care Unit and Emergency Department were chosen for this cross-sectional observational study from August 2023 to March 2024.Results: Abnormal MRI brain imagining(leucoencephalopathy), which was present in 26(52%) patients who have been diagnosed with sepsis with neurological insult or septic shock. This abnormal finding was associated with bad outcome 14 (53%) of these patients died.Conclusion: In cases of septic shock and sepsis-associated encephalopathy, the MRI brain findings exhibited damaged brain lesions with leukoencephalopathy. SOFA could significantly differentiate between leukoencephalopathy patients and normal patients.