Nutrition in critically ill patients with COVID-19: Challenges and special considerations

Published: May 13, 2020
Clinical Nutrition
LETTER TO THE EDITOR| VOLUME 39, ISSUE 7, P2327-2328, JULY 01, 2020

From the published letter:

For patients with gastric residuals above 500 mL, the ESPEN guidelines recommend placement of a post-pyloric feeding tube as soon as possible [2]. However, post-pyloric feeding tube placement is not trivial in critically ill patients with COVID-19. Placement of a post-pyloric feeding tube is often more technically challenging than a gastric feeding tube and may require multiple attempts by the provider along with multiple abdominal X-rays, thus posing an increased risk of viral exposure to staff. Electromagnetic confirmation of gastric and post-pyloric feeding tubes may be favored to minimize the need for x-ray confirmation. Post-pyloric feeding tubes have not been shown to significantly decrease the risk of aspiration and may be dislodged from their position, especially during proning [6].

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