Intensive Care Medicine

, Volume 22, Issue 4, pp 301–304 | Cite as

Motility agents for the placement of weighted and unweighted feeding tubes in critically ill patients

  • H. L. Paz
  • M. Weinar
  • M. S. Sherman
Original

Abstract

Objective

To determine if successful attempts at feeding tube placement into the small bowel could be increased with the use of a weighted end or by pre-treatment with a drug to increase gastric motility.

Design

A prospective randomized control study, double blinded for a drug study drug, in a population of critically ill patients.

Setting

A 635-bed acute care hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Patients

Eighty-three patients in the critical care setting randomized into four groups receiving either parenteral normal saline (NS) 100 cc, erythromycin (EMY) 200 mg, or metoclopramide (MET), 10 mg, 30 min prior to attempted tube placement with either a weighted (WEI) (57 patients) or unweighted tube (UNW) (26 patients).

Results

When analyzed for number of attempts prior to successful tube placement into the stomach there was a signficant difference between the unweighted and weighted groups: 2.08±1.03 attempts vs 1.51±0.94,P≤0.015. Duodenal migration at 24 h was demonstrated in three patients in the NS/UNW group and in two patients in the NS/WEI group as compared to no patients in either the EMY/WEI or the MET/WEI groups (p≤0.025, Fisher's exact test).

Conclusions

These data demonstrate that the use of weighted feeding tubes decreases the number of attempts required to achieve gastric intubation, but that motility agents given prior to tube insertion do not augment advancement of the feeding tube beyond the stomach and may in fact hinder placement into the duodenum.

Key words

Nutritional support Enteral feeding tubes Gastrointestinal motility Critical care Metoclopramide Erythromycin 

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    Koruda MJ, Guenter P, Rombeau JL (1987) Enteral nutrition in the critically ill. Crit Care Clin 3:133–151PubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Zaloga GP, MacGregor DA (1990) What to consider when choosing enteral or parenteral nutrition. J Crit Illnes 5:1180–1200Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Rothman D, Latham MC, Walker WA (1982) Transport of macromolecules in malnourished animals: evidence of increased uptake of intestinal antigens. Nutr Res 2:467–473Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Moss G, Greenstein A, Levy S, Bierenbaum A (1980) Maintenance of GI function after bowel surgery and immediate enteral full nutrition. Doubling of canine colorectal anastomotic bursting pressure and intestinal wound mature collegen content. JPEN 4:535–38Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Alverdy JC, Aoys E, Moss GS (1988) Total parenteral nutrition promotes bacterial translocation from the gut. Surgery 104:185–190PubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Zaloga GP (1991) Nutrition and prevention of systemic infection. Crit Care State Art 12:31–79Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Kudsk KA, Croce MA, Fabian TC, Minard G, Tolley EA, Poret HA, Kuhl MR, Brown RO (1992) Enteral vs parenteral feeding: effects on septic morbidity following blunt and penetrating abdominal trauma. Ann Surg 215: 503–513PubMedGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Reilly JJ, Hull SF, Albert N, Waller A, Bringardener S (1988) Economic impact of malnutrition: a model system for hospitalized patients. JPEN 12: 371–376Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    Zaloga GP (1991) Bedside method for placing small bowel feeding tubes in critically ill patients: a prospective study. Chest 101:643–46Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Zaloga GP (1990) Prevention of infection with endogenous organisms. In: brown D et al (eds) Treatment of radiation injuries. Plenum, New York, pp 15–126Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Roubenoff R, Ravich WM (1989) The technique of avoiding feeding tube misplacement. J Crit Illness 4:75–79Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Gottlieb K, Iber F (1991) Techniques for avoiding complications with enteral feeding tubes. J Crit Illness 6:817–824Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    Kittinger JW, Sardler RS, Heizer WD (1987) Efficacy of metoclopramide as an adjunct to duodenal placement of small-bore feeding tubes: a randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind study. JPEN 11:33–7Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Janssens J, Peeters TL, Vantrappen G et al (1990) Improvement of gastric emptying in diabetic gastroparesis by erythromycin: preliminary studies. N Engl J Med 322:1028–1031PubMedGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    McCallum RW (1990) Gastric emptying in gastroesophageal reflux and the therapeutic role of prokinetic agents. Gastro Clin North Am 19:551–64Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    Sarna SK, Soergel KH, Koch TR, Stone JE, Wood CM, Ryan RP, Arndorfer RC, Cavanaugh JH, Nellans HN, Lee MB (1991) Gastrointestinal motor effects of erythromycin in humans. Gastroenterology 101:1488–1496PubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    DiLorenzo C, Lachman R, Hyman PE (1990) Intravenous erythromycin for postpyloric intubation. J Pediatr Gastroenteral Nutr 11:45–47Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Bonacini M, Quiason S, Reynolds M, Gaddis M, Pemberton B, Smith O (1993) Effect of intravenous erythromycin on postoperative ileus. Am J Gastroenterol 88:208–211PubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Weber FH, Richards RD, McCallum RW (1993) Erythromycin: a motilin agonist and gastrointestinal prokinetic agent. Am J Gastroenterol 88:485–490PubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1996

Authors and Affiliations

  • H. L. Paz
    • 1
    • 2
  • M. Weinar
    • 1
  • M. S. Sherman
    • 1
  1. 1.Divisio of Allergy, critical Care and Pylmonary Medicine, Department of MedicineHahnemann UniversityPhiladelphiaUSA
  2. 2.Medical SchoolUMDNJ—Robert Wood JohnsonNew BrunswickUSA

Personalised recommendations