May 20, 2024 | Virtual Event
Silas Onyango Awuor
Kisii University, Kenya
Introduction: The peak home infusion therapy these days is home enteral nutrition (HEN) or tube feeding. Being used in patients who cannot meet their nutrient requirements by oral intake, yet have a functional gastrointestinal tract, and who are able to receive therapy outside of an acute care setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term complications, pathogens and problems related to gastrostomy and jejunostomy feeding tubes used for home enteral nutrition support and the effect these have on health care use.
Materials and Methods: The medical records of 50 patients having gastrostomy (28 patients) and jejunostomy (22) feeding tubes inserted in outpatient department were retrospectively studied. All were discharged on long-term (>2 months) enteral nutrition and followed up at regular intervals by a nurse. Any problem or complication associated with tube feeding as well as the intervention, if any, that occurred, was recorded. Data were collected and analyzed
Results: All the patients were followed up for a period of 6 months. The most frequent tube-related complications included inadvertent removal of the tube (broken tube, plugged tube; 55.1%), tube leakage (46.4%), dermatitis of the stoma (36.4%), and diarrhea which are due to some pathogen infections (16.4%). Among the pathogens infections causing diarrhoea Escherichia coli was at 30% followed by Salmonella spp. And Shigella spp. both at 25% and lastly Campylobacter spp. at 12%.
Conclusion: In patients receiving long-term home enteral nutrition, feeding tube-related complications and problems are frequent and result in significant health care use. Further studies are needed to address their optimal prevention modalities and management.