Opioids are a mainstay of care in the critical care unit, but their use often causes constipation which can lead to adverse outcomes including delayed feeding and later terminate from the ICU. Researchers from London, UK, and Chicago, IL, have found that methylnaltrexone (MNTX), a peripheral opioid antagonist, may restore bowel province in critically ill patients. Their backward study appears in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "We found MNTX to be very productive in producing laxation when compared with conventionality laxatives in our critically ill patients...

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