Objective To observe the influence of enema therapy with Chinese medicinal with the actions of relaxing bowels and purgation on gastrointestinal dysfunction and failure（GIDF） in critical patients and to study the mechanism.Methods All critical patients（n=74） were randomly divided into the control group and treatment group（each n=37）.In the treatment group there were 14 female patients and 23 male ones and the average age was（71.76±11.93） years old.In the control group there were 17 female patients and 20 male ones and the average age was（72.76±11.24） years old.The comparison of general materials between two groups showed that the difference was not statistically significant（P<0.05）.The control group was given symptomatic treatment of Western medicine

and the treatment group

retention enema of Chinese medicinal with the actions of relaxing bowels and purgation according to syndrome differentiation besides the same treatment as the control group.A therapeutic course was for 5 days.The changes of diamine oxidase（DAO）

tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α）

interleukin-6（IL-6）

C-reactive protein（CRP） and gastrointestinal function were observed in two groups before and after the treatment.Results The levels of DAO

TNF-α

IL-6 and CRP decreased in two groups after the treatment.The comparison of DAO

TNF-α and IL-6 between two groups after the treatment showed that the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）

and comparison of CRP showed that the difference was not statistically significant（P>0.05）.The improvement of gastrointestinal function in the treatment group was better than that in the control group.Conclusion The enema therapy with Chinese medicinal with the actions of relaxing bowels and purgation can abate GIDF

and the mechanism may be related to the decrease of DAO

TNF-α

IL-6 and CRP levels.