Upper gastrointestinal motor and absorptive function in critically ill patients

Funded Activity Summary

A major concern in critically ill patients is the provision of adequate nutrition to facilitate recovery from devastating metabolic insults. Abnormal contractions of the oesophagus, stomach and small intestine appear to be common in critically ill patients. These may prevent effective feeding of patients at a time when they are especially vulnerable to malnutrition and also result in major complications such as pneumonia, septicaemia and gastrointestinal haemorrhage. However little is known about the reasons underlying these dysfunctions. The applicants, with ongoing support from the NH and MRC have had a longstanding interest in motility disorders of the gut and have made important contributions to knowledge about both the causes and treatments of these conditions. These contributions have been underpinned by pioneering the development of new methodologies to examine gut function. In collaboration with the intensive care specialists in Adelaide, we now seek to apply this knowledge to evaluate gut function in patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The proposed studies will provide the most comprehensive studies to date of the gut function in critically ill patients and have important implications for treatment.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $260,760.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Intensive Care

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Absorption | Critical Ilness | Critical illness | Enteral nutrition | Head injury | Pathophysiology | Sepsis | Trauma | Upper Gastrointestinal Motility

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