Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of rotational therapy on aspiration risk of enteral feeds.
Enteral nutrition has been demonstrated to reduce ventilator days and the incidence of pneumonia, but the safest route for providing enteral nutrition to mechanically ventilated patients is unclear. Our objective was to determine if there is a difference between the incidences of microaspiration of gastric secretions in patients fed via a nasogastric tube vs a postpyloric tube while undergoing rotational therapy for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ⋯ The results of this study indicate that enteral nutrition should not be delayed or stopped to position the tube in patients with ARDS on rotational therapy.