Patients and method: In this study the effect of antioxidative therapy with sodium selenite was investigated in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (S. I. R. S.) and multiple organ failure. 40 patients were included in this prospective randomized study. The patients were observed over a period of 28 days. The letality rate within 28 days was excepted as main criteria. The Apache-II and the MOF-Score of Goris were used as clinical parameters. 20 patients were treated with sodium selenite over a period of 28 days.
Result: This antioxidative therapy reduced the letality rate from 40 to 15%.