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Gastro-Intestinal Failure

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Critical Care Nutrition Therapy for Non-nutritionists

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Abstract

This chapter summarizes different aspects of gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction in critically ill patients. Daily evaluation of the abdomen and monitoring of the amount and the aspect of faeces and lost GI secretions are the mainstay of assessment of GI (dys)function; no single reliable test is available. Knowledge on pathophysiology is needed to integrate different aspects, often including information obtained during surgery and/or dynamics of intra-abdominal pressure. Low-dose early enteral nutrition (EN) should be considered in most cases despite present/suspected GI dysfunction, whereas a cautious challenge of EN tolerance helps further evaluation of GI function. A practical algorithm including reasons to delay EN is presented.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intensive Care, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Annika Reintam-Blaser

  2. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Annika Reintam-Blaser

  3. Department of Intensive Care, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Heleen M. Oudemans-van Straaten

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  1. Annika Reintam-Blaser
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  2. Heleen M. Oudemans-van Straaten
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Correspondence to Annika Reintam-Blaser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Service of Intensive Care Medicine and Burns, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Mette M. Berger

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Reintam-Blaser, A., Oudemans-van Straaten, H.M. (2018). Gastro-Intestinal Failure. In: Berger, M. (eds) Critical Care Nutrition Therapy for Non-nutritionists. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58652-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58652-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58651-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58652-6

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