Nutrition in Critically Ill Patients - Challenges in Special Patient Groups

Medical nutrition therapy in daily intensive care often is challenging for the clinician. The severity of disease with possible compromises of conscience, hemodynamics, respiration, renal and gastrointestinal systems requires an individual adaptation of the nutrient-supply adjusted to the disease phase and secondary metabolic tolerance. For these adjustments, clinicians should consider the nature of the acute disease leading to critical illness and also the preceding nutrition state, comorbidities and demographics, as well as the prognosis of the patient. Close monitoring is necessary for a rapid response in case the medical condition changes or new medical or nutritional problems arise. This pragmatic educational article describes recommended nutrition therapies for different patient cohorts in intensive care medicine based on currently valid (inter)national guidelines.