Causes of interruptions in postoperative enteral nutrition in children with congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

Perioperative nutritional support has become a hot topic in the clinical management of congenital heart disease (CHD). Postoperative enteral nutrition (EN) offers many benefits, such as protection of the intestinal mucosa, reduced risk of infection, and low clinical costs. Interruptions in EN frequently influence nutritional support and clinical outcomes. We, therefore, aimed to determine the causes of interruptions in postoperative EN in CHD patients and discuss clinical counter measures.

METHODS AND STUDY

DESIGN

We analyzed the data of 360 CHD patients to determine the causes of interruptions in postoperative EN and develop possible clinical strategies to prevent such interruptions.

RESULTS

Of the 360 patients (aged from 1 month to 6 years), 198 patients had at least one EN interruption. The total number of interruptions was 498 (average, 2.52 interruptions/ patient). Non-gastrointestinal factors (airway management, fluid overload, invasive procedure, increased intracranial pressure, feeding tube block, and clinical deterioration) accounted for 67.8% (338/498) of all interruptions and gastrointestinal factors (vomiting, gastrointestinal bleeding, diarrhea, constipation, and large gastric residual volume) accounted for 32.2% (160/498). The total number of interruptions and the number of interruptions due to gastrointestinal factors were significantly higher in younger patients (aged from 1-12 months) than in older patients (aged from 1-6 years).

CONCLUSIONS

Non-gastrointestinal factors were the main causes of interruptions in postoperative EN in CHD patients. Younger patients had a greater number of interruptions as a whole, and more interruptions caused by gastrointestinal factors. Gastrointestinal factors can be reduced by tube feeding and use of gastrointestinal motility drugs.