• Sonja Fruhwald and Johann Kainz.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Division of Anesthesiology for Cardiovascular Surgery and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. sonja.fruhwald@medunigraz.at
• Curr Opin Crit Care. 2010 Apr 1;16(2):159-64.

Purpose Of ReviewEarly detection of gastrointestinal motility disturbances is a major goal to reduce the incidence of this potentially disastrous event by prophylactic managements and early goal-directed therapy in patients at risk.Recent FindingsGastroparesis frequently results in the inability to feed critically ill patients, aggravating problems such as bacterial translocation and stress-induced intestinal damage. Recently published data have advanced our understanding of the pathophysiologic background of gastroparesis, intestinal stress damage and the effect of early enteral nutrition on gastrointestinal function. New techniques, such as ultrasound and the capsule techniques, might help to assess intestinal function beyond the aspiration of gastric residual volumes and the passage of stool. Therapeutic options such as opioid antagonists and the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 4 agonist prucalopride might help to restore intestinal function.SummaryGastrointestinal motility disturbances are caused by a myriad of pathological processes. Moreover, bowel integrity is governed by comorbidity, impaired metabolic function and pharmacological interventions in critically ill patients. Restoring gastrointestinal function, therefore, requires a multimodal approach including prophylactic management strategies and the sensible use of substances with inhibitory effects on intestinal motility.

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