[The Gastrointestinal Tract in Intensive Care Medicine - Overview 2020]

Gastrointestinal dysfunctions and failure are common clinical incidents in critically ill patients, which are recognized as both, primary and even more often as secondary diagnoses as consequence of an already existing disease or as a corollary of intensive care treatment. These functional complications may aggravate into life-threatening emergencies and are highly associated with prognosis and increased mortality.This article gives an overview about the pathophysiology, diagnostics and therapy of three very relevant current topics in intensive care medicine: prophylaxis and management of gastrointestinal bleeding, gastrointestinal motility and absorption disorders as well as different forms of liver dysfunctions.