title: Pros and cons of feeding the septic intensive care unit patient.
abstract: Sepsis is a common disease seen in critically ill patients. Many patients with sepsis are unable to provide nutrition for themselves, and therefore initiating artificial nutrition has become part of routine care for these patients. However, studies investigating the optimal route, composition, volume, and duration of nutrition in critically ill patients with sepsis are lacking. The best recommendations have to be extrapolated from studies in heterogeneous populations of critically ill patients or in those with syndromes such as acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) where sepsis is a common predisposing etiology. In this review, we summarize pertinent studies that inform clinical practice on providing artificial nutrition to critically ill patients with severe sepsis and make recommendations as to how these studies influence clinical care of these patients.
authors: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee.
authors: Richard D
authors: RD
authors: Fremont
authors: Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee todd.rice@vanderbilt.edu.
authors: Todd W
authors: TW
authors: Rice
mesh_terms: D001120:Arginine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000628:therapy; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005973:Glutamine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010288:Parenteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome; D018805:Sepsis / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D005973:Glutamine; D001120:Arginine
keywords: arginine; enteral nutrition; glutamine; nutritional support; parenteral nutrition; sepsis; ω-3 fatty acids