Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Critically ill patients may experience delayed gastric emptying. Patients receiving enteral feeding are monitored closely to detect a delay of gastric emptying, assess feeding tolerance, and prevent aspiration pneumonia. ⋯ Several techniques are discussed: scintigraphy, paracetamol absorption test, breath tests, refractometry, ultrasound, and gastric impedance monitoring. Refractometry seems to be the most appropriate tool for the regular assessment of enteral nutrition; however, standardization and validation of this method are needed before it can be routinely used to monitor critically ill patients receiving enteral nutrition.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of tools for nutrition assessment and screening for predicting the development of complications in orthopedic surgery.
Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is a significant problem. The purpose of this study was to compare 2 assessment tools-the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) and subjective global assessment (SGA)-in predicting development of complications in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. ⋯ Age and ASA physical status are risk factors for malnutrition. In patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, NRS 2002 predicted development of complications better than the SGA. Malnutrition also increased length of hospital stay.