[Stress ulcer prophylaxis in septic patients. Evidence-based overview]

In spite of decreasing incidence stress-related gastrointestinal bleeding is still an important problem in intensive care medicine. Especially patients with severe sepsis or septic shock are prone to develop lesions of the upper gastrointestinal tract with consecutive bleeding. In order to prevent gastrointestinal bleeding various pharmacological agents are used to either suppress gastric acid or neutralize its effect. The following article presents an update on important aspects of stress-related mucosal disease. It further reviews current literature to provide evidence-based recommendations for stress ulcer prophylaxis in septic patients.