Gastrointestinal Failure In Intensive Care Patients: Practical Aspects Of Gi Function In Intensive Care Patients: Incidence And Impact Of Gi Problems, Introduction Of Gastrointestinal Failure Score. This item is unavailable.Gastrointestinal Failure In Intensive Care Patients: Practical Aspects Of Gi Function In Intensive Care Patients: Incidence And Impact Of Gi Problems, Introduction Of Gastrointestinal Failure Score

Present dissertation is focused on evaluation of gastrointestinal function in intensive care patients. The definitions, incidence and impact of gastrointestinal failure are addressed. Development of GI symptoms is associated with increased mortality and prolonged ICU stay. The most remarkable raise in risk of death may be observed in elective cardiosurgical patients. Similar to clinical symptoms, the incidence of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) is high in mixed ICU population. Monitoring the only the presumable risk population may result in missing part of the actual IAH patients. The patients with IAH have higher ICU- and 90-day mortality. Secondary IAH has worse outcome than primary IAH. The scoring system for GIF based on combined evaluation of successfulness of enteral feeding and presence of intra-abdominal hypertension is developed. Proposed GIF score has high prognostic value in prediction of ICU mortality in single centre prospective study. Gastrointestinal failure assessed with GIF score is highly important among other organ failures in ICU.

Annika Reintam was born in 1971 in Tartu, Estonia. She graduated the University of Tartu and became an intensive care doctor. She is currently working as a head of Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care in East Tallinn Central Hospital. This dissertation for doctoral degree was supervised by professors Joel Starkopf and Hartmut Kern.