Systemic Inflammatory Response and Sepsis: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Nutritional Considerations

The nutritional care of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who are septic can be very challenging. There is no Grade A recommendation on how best to feed them (see Table 35.1 for grading definitions) (1). There is debate as to whether they should be fed at all (2,3). The stakes are high. There are over 750,000 U.S. cases annually, with over 200,000 deaths (mortality rate of 28.6%).