Estimation of Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein Level as a Marker of Gut Failure in Critically ILL Pediatric Patients

Abstract

 Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction resulting from a dysregulated systemic inflammatory response to infection. It is characterized by a generalised pro-inflammatory cascade, which may lead to widespread tissue injury (Singer et al., 2016).  Gut failure was defined as a rapid reduction of small-bowel enterocytic function because of acute reduction of enterocyte mass and/or acute dysfunction of enterocytes responsible for decreased absorptive capacity and loss of barrier function (Piton and Capellier, 2015).  Intestinal FABP (I-FABP) is primarily limited to mature enterocytes of the small and large intestine. It circulates in low amounts in the blood stream of healthy individuals I-FABP is a useful plasma/urinary marker for early enterocyte cell death and levels rise rapidly after episodes of acute intestinal ischaemia and inflammation (Thuijls et al., 2011). The aim of our study is to estimate the serum level of intestinal fatty acid binding protein in septic cases associated with gut failure in critically ill pediatric patients.  To test the efficacy of lactofferin supplementation in septic patients in maintaining gut barrier function using serum