T he need to avoid prolonged starvation in patients is well recognized. More recently, it has been realized that without intraluminal fuels, intestinal integrity may deteriorate and allow translocation of gut bacteria. One means to combat nutrient deprivation and simultaneously to keep the local defense barrier of the intestine intact is tube feeding, i.e., enteral nutrition. This technique has...

BACKGROUND Gastric tonometry is used to assess gastrointestinal mucosal perfusion in critically ill patients. However, enteral feeding is withheld during monitoring with gastric tonometry because enteral feeding is thought to influence tonometric measurements. OBJECTIVES To examine the effect of enteral feeding on the tonometric measurement of gastric mucosal carbon dioxide. METHODS Gastric...

Enteral tubes are frequently used in critically ill patients for feeding and gastric decompression. Many of the nursing guidelines to facilitate the care of patients with enteral tubes have not been based on current research, but on ritual and opinion. Using a computerised literature search and an evidence-based classification system as described by the Joanna Briggs Institute for Evidence Base...

The use of safe and cost-effective endoscopic techniques for the placement of tubes in the gastrointestinal tract has led to increased utilization of long-term enteral feeding in patients with impaired GI function, including many cancer patients. Of an estimated 148,000 US patients who received long-term enteral feeding outside hospitals in 1992, 43% were cancer patients. The technique of percu...

OBJECTIVE Gastroschisis is a defect of the abdominal wall, resulting in congenital evisceration and requiring neonatal intensive care, early surgical correction, and parenteral nutrition. This study evaluated newborns with gastroschisis, seeking to associate nutritional characteristics with time of hospital stay. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of 49 newborns undergoing primary ...

OBJECTIVE: To review the effect of enteral nutrition on nosocomial pneumonia in critically ill patients as summarized in randomized clinical trials. STUDY IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION: Studies were identified through MEDLINE, SCISEARCH, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, bibliographies of primary and review articles, and personal files. Through duplicate independent review, we selected randomized tr...

The following article is intended to provide a review of the current state of enteral feeding; a rapidly changing and developing field. It covers the type of feed, the routes of access, and the problems that can occur with enteral feeding.

Results They were 18 enteral feeding recipients and 7 nonrecipients in preoperative term. Among 2 groups, there were no differences in sex, gestational age, body weight at birth, or day of age at the operation. Multivariable analysis was performed to evaluate preoperative calorie intake, postoperative length of stay, durations of ventilation and vasopressor use and body weight gain. There were ...

Early, aggressive nutrition is an important contributing factor of long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. To ensure optimal growth in premature infants, adequate protein intake and optimal protein/energy ratio should be emphasized rather than the overall energy intake. Minimal enteral nutrition should be initiated as soon as possible in the first days of life, and feeding advancement should be ...

Earlier this year, we reported on the contamination of a closed enteral feeding system (Isocal) 1 where Gramnegative bacilli were recovered from nutrient solutions obtained from the feeding tubes of 8/10 patients, within 24 hours of use. Our findings differed from those of laboratory studies carried out by others2 which indicated that solutions delivered by the same enteral feeding system remai...