BACKGROUND The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyse the occurrence of gastrointestinal side effects in enterally fed ITU patients. METHODS We analysed the records of 195 ITU patients fed enterally, over at least five days, with commercial mixtures administered as 20-h infusions. Gastric retention, the number of defecations, and incidents requiring discontinuation of enteral feed...

PARENTERAL NUTRITION HAS BEEN in common use since the 1960s and is accepted as the standard of care for patients with chronic nonfunctioning gastrointestinal tracts. In critical illness, controversy surrounds the appropriate use of parenteral nutrition, but largescale trials have begun to answer important questions. Published in2011,EPaNIC(EarlyParenteral Nutrition Completing Enteral Nutrition ...

Debate over withdrawal or withholding of artificial nutrition appeared a distant discussion until the furor over the Schiavo case and a Papal Allocation reignited this ethical dilemma. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the bioethical opinion regarding artificial nutrition, as published in the Hastings Center Report from 1971 until 2007. A clinical and religious history of th...

Nutritional support is generally considered an essential component in the management of critically ill patients. The existing guidelines advocate early enteral nutrition, with the optimal timing for the addition of parenteral nutrition to insufficient enteral feeding being the subject of transatlantic controversy. The unphysiologic intervention of artificial nutrition in critically ill patients...

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) causes local and systemic complications leading to high catabolic, hypermetabolic and hyperdynamic stress states with marked morbidity and mortality. In the last decade, nutritional support has become a key element in the treatment of SAP. Thus, specialized nutrition is indicated from admission, with enteral nutrition being preferred to parenteral nutrition. Ente...

Sum mary Aim: The aim of this study was to establish serum sistatine C, urine β2 microglobulin, gluthatione-S -transferase π and N-acetyle β-D glucosaminidase levels in order to evaluate the effect of total parenteral nutrition on renal function in premature infants. In addition, we aimed to compare the renal functions between premature infants receiving total parenteral nutrition and control g...

Minimal Enteral Nutrition Abstract Although parenteral nutrition has been used widely in the management of sick very low birth weight infants, a smooth transition to the enteral route is most desirable. Trophic feeding is the practice of feeding minute volumes of enteral feeds in order to stimulate the development of the immature gastrointestinal tract of the preterm infant. This concept has be...

CONTEXT Postoperative enteral nutrition is thought to reduce complications and speed recovery after pancreatic resection. There is little evidence on the best route for delivery of enteral nutrition. Currently we use percutaneous transperitoneal jejunostomy or percutaneous transperitoneal gastrojejunostomy, or the nasojejunal route to deliver enteral nutrition, according to surgeon preference. ...

Acute pancreatitis is a disease with varying severity. Patients with the mild form do not require nutritional support because oral intake is resumed rapidly. Studies on nutritional support in acute pancreatitis have included patients with both mild and severe disease. In this heterogeneous group, total parenteral nutrition did not improve outcome compared with no nutrition at all. This is cause...

Malnutrition is a common consequence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Diet has an important role in the management of IBD, as it prevents and corrects malnutrition. It is well known that diet may be implicated in the aetiology of IBD and that it plays a central role in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal-tract disease. Often oral nutrition alone is not sufficient in the management of IBD p...