Effect of enteral nutrition through nasointestinal tube on nutritional status of patients with severe craniocerebral injury

Objective To investigate the improvement of nutritional status of patients with severe craniocerebral injury (sTBI) by enteral nutrition through nasointestinal tube. Methods A total of 246 patients with sTBI admitted to our hospital from January 2015 to December 2018 were randomly divided into observation group and control group, 123 cases in each group. The observation group received nutrition support through nasointestinal tube, and the control group received nutrition support through nasogastric tube. The nutrition-related hematological parameters and GCS scores of the two groups were measured before treatment, 7 days after treatment, and 14 days after treatment, and the complications of nasal feeding tube in the two groups were recorded. Results At 7 days after treatment and 14 days after treatment, the levels of Hb, ALB, and PA in the two groups were higher than those before treatment, the levels of Hb, ALB, and PA in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). During the course of treatment for 14 days, the incidence of lung infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, reflux esophagitis, electrolyte disturbance in the observation group were 10.57%, 16.26%, 4.88%, 13.01%, which were significantly lower than those in the control group (51.21%, 30.08%, 29.27%, 37.40%) (P<0.05). After 7, 14 days of treatment, the GCS score of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group [(9.1±2.3) vs.(7.9±2.9), (11.6±1.3) vs.(10.3±1.9)] (P<0.05). Conclusion Enteral nutrition support through nasointestinal tube can improve the nutritional status of sTBI patients, with lower incidence of complications and better safety. Key words: Nasointestinal tube feeding; Enteral nutrition support; Severe craniocerebral injury; Nutritional status