Enteral nutrition for patients in septic shock: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Early enteral nutrition (EN) is considered best practice in critically ill patients. However, EN is often limited by delayed gastric emptying, which is clinically evident from large gastric residual volumes. Studies consistently show that nasogastric nutrition delivers only about 60% of nutritional goals in critically ill patients.6,7 The aetiology of abnormal gastrointestinal motility in critical illness remains unclear, although factors such as admission diagnosis, inotropic support, opiate-based sedation,8 muscle relaxants, electrolyte abnormalities and inflammatory cytokines have all been implicated. Haemodynamic instability is also frequently considered a contraindication to enteral feeding. However, gastrointestinal function and the success of enteral feeding have never been formally examined in patients with shock. The aim of our study was to assess adequacy of EN in ventilated septic patients with and without shock. Show more