• C Sánchez Sánchez, J López-Herce Cid, A Carrillo Alvarez, A Bustinza Arriortúa, L Sancho Pérez, and D Vigil Escribano.
• Sección de Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos. Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon. Madrid. Spain.
• An Pediatr (Barc). 2003 Jul 1;59(1):25-30.

ObjectiveTo study tolerance to transpyloric enteral nutrition (TEN) and the incidence of secondary complications in critically-ill children.Patients And MethodsWe performed a prospective, observational study between 1994 and 2002 of all critically-ill children admitted to our pediatric intensive care unit who received TEN. Tolerance and complications were analyzed.ResultsOf 286 patients aged between 3 days and 17 years who received TEN, gastrointestinal complications occurred in 13.6 %, abdominal distention and/or excessive gastric residue in 8 % and diarrhea in 6.3 %. Diarrhea was associated with shock (p 0.01), abdominal distension and/ or excessive gastric residue (p 0.008), hypophosphatemia (p 0.001), and duration of TEN (p < 0.001). TEN was discontinued in 2.1 % of the patients because of gastrointestinal complications. Thirty-two patients (11.2 %) died during TEN. No relationship was found between the characteristics of nutrition and complications and mortality.ConclusionsTEN is a well tolerated method of nutrition in critically-ill children that produces few complications.

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