[Relation between the viscosity of enteral diets and mechanical complications in their administration according to the nasogastric catheters].
OBJECTIVE
The use of enteral nutrition has increased enormously over the last few years and at the same time the standard indications for parenteral nutrition, whether in hospitals or at home, have gradually been defined. The most common way to administer enteral nutrition is intermittently and using gravity, through a nasogastric catheter or through gastrostomy. In our daily practice it has been observed that there was at times a considerable delay in the administration of the diet by means of a nasogastric catheter and the tube was sometimes blocked due to its small calibre and/or the excessive viscosity of the formula. It was therefore proposed to study the viscosities of polymeric enteral diets with and without fibre at this hospital to identify the relationship with the time taken for their intermittent, gravity-driven administration through different calibres of nasogastric catheter at the maximum flow rate.


RESULTS
Some of the enteral diets under study exceeded the recommended time for intermittent administration by gravity (20-40 minutes).


CONCLUSIONS
We feel it is essential for the product label to provide information on the optimal calibre of the nasogastric catheter required for administration of the product.
Montejo
O
O
Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, España.
Alba
G
G
Cardona
D
D
Estelrich
J
J
Mangues
M A
MA
D004348:Drug Labeling; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D006801:Humans; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013997:Time Factors; D014783:Viscosity