There is ongoing debate about the respective roles of enteral and parenteral nutrition. The present short review suggests that these two feeding modalities are not mutually exclusive and that optimal nutritional support may necessitate the concomitant administration of enteral together with parenteral nutrition.

A closed enteral delivery system consisting of a cardboard tetrapack containing the sterile ready-to-use liquid feed and an independent sterile administration set, has been devised. We found bacterial contamination within 24 hours in this system in patients on ventilatory support in intensive care. This emphasises the need for meticulous care in handling enteral feeding systems to prevent envir...

Background: In several disease conditions, patients must inevitably be nourished by enteral feeding (EF). Though in many countries, commercial formulas are routinely used for EF, in Iran still home-made formulas are commonly employed as commercial formulas are not covered by insurance. This may pose patients to malnutrition and bring about further costs.  The aim of this study was to evalu...

This review discusses three main topics: the first relates to the effects of underlying disease, malnutrition, and nutritional support on appetite; the second is concerned with the role of enteral feeding in short bowel syndrome; and the third deals with the clinical benefits of enteral nutrition.

BACKGROUND Compared with early enteral feeds, the delayed introduction and slow advancement of enteral feedings to reduce the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) are not well studied in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. OBJECTIVE To study the effects of a standardized slow enteral feeding (SSEF) protocol in ELBW infants. METHODS ELBW infants who followed an SSEF protocol (...

The present review aimed to define the role of nutritional interventions in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition in HNC patients undergoing CRT as well as their impact on CRT-related toxicity and survival. Head and neck cancer patients are frequently malnourished at the time of diagnosis and prior to the beginning of treatment. In addition, chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) causes or exacerbates...

Preterm infants have higher nutrient requirements than term infants. Enteral tube feeding is the preferred route to feed preterm infants because premature infants are unable to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and breathing. There are two common tube feeding methods: intermittent (bolus) or continuous infusion. Minimal enteral nutrition or trophic feeding has many advantages for preterms and sho...

Recent medical studies have investigated the importance of enteral feeding and the use of feeding pumps for recovering patients unable to feed themselves or gain nourishment and nutrients by natural means. The most of enteral feeding system uses a peristaltic tube pump. A peristaltic pump is a form of positive displacement pump in which a flexible tube is progressively squeezed externally to al...