Prokinetic drugs have been recommended to increase
EN tolerance in critically ill patients, but this is also a
controversial issue [31–33]. In this study, metoclopramide
was used as a prophylactic measure to increase diet tolerance
and decrease aspiration risk in all the patients.
Nevertheless, the study was not designed to test the
hypothesis that prophylactic prokinetic treatment is beneficial
in these situations. Prophylactic use of prokinetic
drugs from the onset of EN in all the cases remains speculative
and could not be recommended as a clinical routine.
Nevertheless, we cannot exclude a beneficial effect of
metoclopramide in improving diet tolerance in our patients