Feeding Intolerance

Critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) frequently present with gastrointestinal dysfunction and are at elevated risk of malnutrition. Gastrointestinal dysfunction is correlated with adverse clinical outcomes, including prolonged mechanical ventilation duration, extended ICU length of stay, and increased 90-day mortality. In critically ill ICU patients, severe gut microbiota dysbiosis and intestinal barrier impairment may occur due to the burden of primary critical illnesses, as well as the administration of proton pump inhibitors and antibiotics. This cascade contributes to a high prevalence of gastrointestinal dysfunction, alongside profound gut-derived systemic inflammatory responses and organ damage. Given the pivotal role of gut microbiota in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) holds promise as a novel therapeutic strategy for enteral feeding intolerance secondary to gastrointestinal dysfunction in critically ill ICU patients. This study intends to deliver FMT via a nasojejunal tube to critically ill patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction admitted to the ICU. Its objectives are to evaluate the intervention's effects on gastrointestinal function recovery and the alleviation of enteral feeding intolerance, while also assessing its impacts on intestinal barrier function, gut microbiota composition and metabolic profiles, serum metabolite signatures, immune-inflammatory responses (including lymphocyte subsets, cytokines, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin), ICU delirium, ICU sleep quality, and clinical outcomes (encompassing ICU mortality, in-hospital mortality, 28-day all-cause mortality, 90-day all-cause mortality, 90-day readmission rate, and 90-day incidence of secondary infections).

Clinical Trial The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether different enteral feeding cycles (18-hour, 20-hour, or standard 24-hour continuous feeding) improve outcomes for critically ill ICU patients who need tube feeding. It will also look at tolerance, nutrition delivery, and safety. The main questions it aims to answer are: Do shorter feeding cycles (with fasting windows) reduce ICU length of stay? Do they lower the risk of infections like ventilator-associated pneumonia? How do they affect calorie delivery, blood sugar control, and gastrointestinal tolerance? Researchers will compare: Continuous 24-hour feeding (standard care) 20-hour feeding with a 4-hour fasting window 18-hour feeding with a 6-hour fasting window Participants will: Be critically ill adults in the ICU who require at least 7 days of enteral feeding Be randomized to one of the three feeding schedules Receive daily monitoring of calories, protein, blood sugar, and GI tolerance Have outcomes measured, including ICU length of stay, infections, metabolic control, and feeding tolerance

A prospective randomized controlled trial included 86 patients in medicine ward who were diagnosed with feeding intolerance, defined as having a gastric residual volume greater than 200 ml. The patients were randomly assigned to two treatment groups: one receiving enteral metoclopramide and the other receiving intravenous metoclopramide. The primary outcome was the gastric residual volume at 72 hours after treatment. The secondary outcome was gastric residual volume at 24 hours and 7 days after treatment, administered-to-prescribed volume at 72 hours after treatment, the administered-to-target energy ratio and the administered-to-target protein ratio at 96 hours after treatment, the nutrition status evaluated by the Nutrition Alert Form at 7 days after treatment, incidence of adverse events (arrhythmia, pneumonia, diarrhea, vomiting, aspiration), length of hospital stay, ICU length of stay and in-hospital mortality.

Hospitalized infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and feeding intolerance will be randomized to 2 weeks of continuous gastric feeding or continuous transpyoloric feeding. Subjects will crossover after 2 weeks and receive 4 weeks of each feeding mode. Respiratory status will be assessed to determine the optimal feeding mode for each infant.