Organ metabolism and nutrition Book

This volume brings together a multidisciplinary group of basic scientists and clinicians to explore one of the most challenging areas of clinical nutrition and critical care medicine: nutritional support of patients with organ failure resulting from hypoperfusion or sepsis. The contributors examine the interactions of nutrients with the metabolic changes that accompany critical illness, discuss the role of nutritional deficits in organ failure, and describe specific nutritional strategies for support of individual organs. The central issue addressed is when and how selective nutrient administration can counteract the metabolic changes associated with tissue depletion. The book presents the concepts and the current research of a group of renowned authorities on altered metabolism in injured and infected patients. Coverage includes detailed analyses of the interactions between hormones and cytokines, with special attention to endotoxin and its role in the activation of white blood cells. Extensive sections focus on the metabolic behavior of the intestine, the liver, and the lung and the ways in which these organs can interact in injured or infected patients to cause multiple organ failure. This volume provides essential new information on metabolic processes in critically ill patients and highlights the potential clinical applications of these new scientific concepts. Such information is of vital importance to internists, surgeons, critical care specialists, clinical nutritionists, and pharmacologists, as well as to basic scientists investigating the mechanisms of organ failure in injured or infected patients.