Background: Nutrition is important in childhood because the child has a lower energy reserve than the adult and a higher demand for calories because of ongoing growth. In this study, the utility of transpyloric enteral feeding (TEF) in critically ill children was evaluated.
Methods: A prospective, descriptive study was made in a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary pediatric center of 41 critically ill children, 30 after surgical procedures and 11 with nonsurgical illness, aged 8 days to 12 years, who received transpyloric enteral feeding with 8- or 10-Fr weighted feeding tubes. Analysis was made of tolerance and complications (vomiting, abdominal distension, excessive gastric residual, diarrhea, and pulmonary aspiration) of TEF.
Results: The mean duration of TEF was 19.5 +/- 26.8 days (range, 1-120 days). The administration of sedative agents or inotropic drugs did not alter toleration of TEF. Eight of 12 patients treated with continuous infusion of vecuronium tolerated TEF without complications. Eleven gastrointestinal complications occurred in 10 patients, abdominal distension and excessive gastric residual in 7 (17%), and diarrhea in 4 (9.7%). In 7 patients gastrointestinal complications improved, with decreasing use or transitory interruption of TEF, but in 4 patients (9.7%), TEF had to be withdrawn. Gastrointestinal complications were more frequent in postsurgical than in nonsurgical patients (p < 0.001). No patients suffered from pulmonary aspiration, and the incidence of pulmonary infection and hepatic dysfunction diminished during TEF.
Conclusions: Transpyloric enteral feeding is a good method of nutritional support in critically ill children and can be used in patients treated with neuromuscular blocking agents. The frequency and severity of complications and the risks of pulmonary infection and hepatic dysfunction related to TEF are low.