Prospective study of nasogastric feeding via East Grinstead or Viomedex tubes compared with oral dietary supplementation in patients with cirrhosis

Abstract

Forty-seven patients with alcoholic hepatitis and/or cirrhosis were randomised to receive nutritional supplementation by oral sip feeding or by nasogastric infusion administered via either an East Grinstead or a Viomedex nasoenteric tube. The three groups were well matched for severity and complications of liver disease. Patients fed by the nasogastric route attained their daily target dietary intake significantly more often than did those supplemented orally, but the consequent improvement in their nitrogen balance was not significant. There were no significant differences between nasogastric and sip feeding, or between the types of tube studied, in the frequency with which vomiting, diarrhoea or variceal bleeding occurred, but Viomedex tubes required reinsertion significantly less frequently than did the East Grinstead type.