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Safety and Tolerance of Enteral Nutrition in the Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patient Receiving Vasopressors
Author(s) -
Sabino Kim M,
Fuller Julie,
May Scott,
Wakefield Dorothy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nutrition in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1941-2452
pISSN - 0884-5336
DOI - 10.1002/ncp.10548
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care unit , parenteral nutrition , enteral administration , abdominal pain , anesthesia , retrospective cohort study , intestinal ischemia , ischemia , intensive care medicine , reperfusion injury
Background Multiple societal guidelines recommend enteral nutrition (EN) be initiated within 24 to 48 hours of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) once a patient is hemodynamically stable. Gastrointestinal intolerance and occurrence of bowel ischemia have been a concern for patients receiving vasopressors while concurrently receiving luminal nutrients. The study objective was to determine whether patients receiving vasopressors while concomitantly receiving enteral nutrients had more incidences of bowel ischemia and intolerance than those receiving EN without vasopressor agents. Methods This retrospective study included 319 medical and surgical ICU patients from a level 1 trauma center. The patients were either receiving vasopressors simultaneously with EN (n = 178) or EN alone (n = 141). Data regarding gastric residual volume (GRV), new abdominal pain, emesis, and bowel ischemia were collected. Results There were more patients who had elevated GRV in the group that received vasopressors than patients who did not (20% vs 7%; P ‐value < .01). There were no differences between rates of bowel ischemia, emesis, or new abdominal pain between the 2 groups. Conclusion Based on our findings, EN is generally well tolerated and safe for those patients simultaneously receiving vasopressors.