Is There a Role for Enterohormones in the Gastroparesis of Critically Ill Patients?

Objectives: Delayed gastric emptying occurs in critically ill patients and impairs the delivery, digestion, and absorption of enteral feeding. A pathophysiologic role of the enterohormones peptide YY and ghrelin is supported by preclinical data. To compare the circulating plasma levels of peptide YY and ghrelin in control subjects and in critically ill patients, during feeding and fasting, and to search for a correlation with gastric emptying.

The value of blood lactate kinetics in critically ill patients: a systematic review.

Background: The time course of blood lactate levels could be helpful to assess a patient's response to therapy. Although the focus of published studies has been largely on septic patients, many other studies have reported serial blood lactate levels in different groups of acutely ill patients.

Methods: We performed a systematic search of PubMed, Science Direct, and Embase until the end of February 2016 plus reference lists of relevant publications.