• Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care · Sep 2003

    Review

    The gastrointestinal tract in critical illness: nutritional implications.

    • Hank Schmidt and Robert Martindale.
    • Department of Surgery, Medical College of Georgia, 1120 15th St., Augusta, Georgia, USA. hschmidt@mail.mcg.edu
    • Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2003 Sep 1; 6 (5): 587-91.

    Purpose Of ReviewRecognition that the gastrointestinal tract is a key element of the immune system has led to a greater interest in understanding its role as a central figure in host defenses. Biologic systems that are perturbed by any destabilizing stimulus are known to respond by adaptive strategies in an attempt to maintain or return to global homeostasis. In critically ill patients, the gut has previously been described as a promoter of progression to sepsis and multi-organ failure. However, with better understanding of gastrointestinal tract mucosal immunity, we are now provided with a new arsenal to combat nosocomial infection and significantly impact return to health.Recent FindingsIn this review we focus on five key topics in the rapidly expanding landscape of knowledge on the gastrointestinal tract in the critical care setting. These include a discussion of probiotic therapy, now the new frontier of immuno-nutrition, the concept of ischemia/reperfusion injury and changes in gut permeability, anti-oxidant and micronutrient therapy, blood glucose regulation, and enhancement of gut motility, all in the intensive care setting.SummaryOngoing research in nutritional support in both normal and pathologic gastrointestinal function and response to injury has opened the door to several new opportunities for enhancing rapid recovery in critical care.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…