Feeding very low birth weight (VLBW) or very preterm infants poses a unique challenge due to the immaturity of gastrointestinal tract. Early nutrition is crucial for improving optimal growth, long-term outcome and to decrease morbidities. The goal is to achieve a growth rate similar to fetal growth in utero. Trophic feeding (TF) of preterm infants was introduced in the late 1980s in an attempt ...

BACKGROUND IUGR infants are thought to have impaired gut function after birth, which may result in intestinal disturbances, ranging from temporary intolerance to the enteral feeding to full-blown NEC.In literature there is no consensus regarding the impact of enteral feeding on intestinal blood flow and hence regarding the best regimen and the best rate of delivering the enteral nutrition. ME...

BACKGROUND Rikkunshito is a traditional Japanese medicine that has been widely prescribed for patients with various gastrointestinal symptoms. Recently, the prokinetic effects of Rikkunshito in patients with a variety of diseases have attracted attention in Japan. The prokinetic effects of Rikkunshito are believed to result from an increase of active ghrelin, which is most abundant in the stoma...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to determine whether neonatal nasogastric enteral feeding tubes are colonised by the opportunistic pathogen Cronobacter spp. (Enterobacter sakazakii) and other Enterobacteriaceae, and whether their presence was influenced by the feeding regime. METHODS One hundred and twenty-nine tubes were collected from two neonatal intensive care units (NICU). A q...

A 58 year old man underwent a laparotomy for intestinal obstruction, which proved to be due to intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Following a slow postoperative course, he was discovered to have a gastric phytobezoar. The association between bezoars and pseudo-obstruction has not been previously described, but might be expected. The gastric phytobezoar could not be fragmented mechanically, but it c...