Care of the gut in the surgical intensive care unit: fact or fashion?

The traditional approach to the care of the gastrointestinal tract in the intensive care unit has been one of neglect. However, recent evidence has linked enteric flora to the generation of clinical sepsis in the absence of other infectious foci. The role of the bowel as an efficient barrier to the invasion of its own flora is addressed in this paper. A variety of insults disrupt the integrity of the barrier function of the gut, allowing the entry of bowel organisms or endotoxins, or both, into the portal and systemic circulatory systems. In animal and early clinical studies, a number of interventions, aimed at altering the enteric flora and enhancing the bowel's barrier function, have been shown to modulate the host's resistance to different insults and may even improve clinical outcome. Such interventions include maintenance of enteral feeding, glutamine supplementation of hyperalimentation solutions and selective bacterial decontamination of the bowel.