Objective To observe the clinical effect of abdominal ironing combined with enema by modified Dachengqi Decoction on gastrointestinal dysfunction (GD) in intensive care unit(ICU).

Methods A total of 120 GD patients who were admitted to the ICU of our hospital and met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected as study objects. They were randomly divided into western medicine group (n=40, conventional treatment of western medicine), Chinese medicine enema group (n=40, added enema treatment with modified Dachengqi Decoction on the basis of western medicine group) and combination group (n=40, applied traditional Chinese medicine abdominal ironing on the basis of Chinese medicine enema group), all groups were treated for 7 days. Gastrointestinal failure (GIF) score, Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation Scoring System Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ) score, remission time of gastrointestinal symptoms, serum procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were compared among the three groups.

Results GIF score, APACHE Ⅱ score, serum PCT and CRP levels in the three groups decreased with the prolonging of treatment time (P < 0.05), and there was an interaction effect among groups and time points (P < 0.05). The above scores of the combination group were obviously lower than those of the Chinese medicine enema group and the western medicine group at 3 and 7 days of treatment, and were obviously lower in the Chinese medicine enema group than those of the western medicine group (P < 0.05). Abdominal distension relief time, bowel sound recovery time, anal exhaust time and defecation time in the combination group were earlier than those in Chinese medicine enema group and western medicine group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion Abdominal ironing combined with enema by modified Dachengqi Decoction for ICU patients with GD can effectively relieve inflammation, improve the symptoms of GD, and obviously alleviate the condition of disease.