Nutritional support

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Nutritional support is defined as "the administration of nutrients for assimilation and utilization by a patient by means other than normal eating."[1]

Classification

  • Enteral nutrition, which is defined as "nutritional support given via the alimentary canal or any route connected to the gastrointestinal system (i.e., the enteral route). This includes oral feeding, sip feeding, and tube feeding using nasogastric, gastrostomy, and jejunostomy tubes."[2]
  • Parenteral nutrition, which is defined as "the administering of nutrients for assimilation and utilization by a patient who cannot maintain adequate nutrition by enteral feeding alone. Nutrients are administered by a route other than the alimentary canal (e.g., intravenously, subcutaneously)."[3]

Enteral nutrition

For critically ill patients who are intolerant of tube feeding, combining two prokinetic drugs, 200 mg of intravenous erythromycin twice daily with 10 mg of intravenous metoclopramide four times daily may be more effective than using either drug alone.[4]

Parenteral nutrition

Parenteral nutrition is usually administered via a central venous catheter.

Effectiveness

In the absence of metabolic diseases such as medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, nutritional supplementation is not necessary if the patient is not eating for four days or less[5] and maybe also if duration is seven days or less.[6]

A randomized controlled trial found no difference between the NG tube and PEG tube in stroke patients.[6]


Ethical issues

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Nutritional Support. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  2. National Library of Medicine. Enteral nutrition. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  3. National Library of Medicine. Parenteral nutrition. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
  4. Nguyen NQ, Chapman M, Fraser RJ, Bryant LK, Burgstad C, Holloway RH (2007). "Prokinetic therapy for feed intolerance in critical illness: One drug or two?". DOI:10.1097/01.CCM.0000286397.04815.B1. PMID 17828038. Research Blogging.
  5. de Lédinghen V, Beau P, Mannant PR, et al (1997). "Early feeding or enteral nutrition in patients with cirrhosis after bleeding from esophageal varices? A randomized controlled study". Dig. Dis. Sci. 42 (3): 536-41. PMID 9073135[e]
  6. 6.0 6.1 Dennis MS, Lewis SC, Warlow C (2005). "Effect of timing and method of enteral tube feeding for dysphagic stroke patients (FOOD): a multicentre randomised controlled trial". Lancet 365 (9461): 764-72. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)17983-5. PMID 15733717. Research Blogging. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "pmid15733717" defined multiple times with different content