Introduction Our objectives were to determine the causes of acute respiratory failure (ARF) in elderly patients and to assess the accuracy of the initial diagnosis by the emergency physician, and that of the prognosis.

Acute and reversible left ventricular dilation accompanies septic shock-induced systolic left ventricular dysfunction. When septic myocardial abnormalities are limited to reversible impairment of left ventricular relaxation, left ventricular dimensions remain unchanged.

Isolated and reversible impairment of left ventricular relaxation, associated with transient increases in cTnI, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-8, and IL-10, was observed in 20% of patients with septic shock.