What is the effectiveness and safety of postpyloric feeding versus gastric feeding for critically ill adults who require enteral tube feeding?

Adequate nutrition is a key component to providing holistic care to critically ill patients. Assessing the need for nutritional support and providing early intervention can have many beneficial outcomes for patients, including improved disease progression and recovery time, improved immune response, and decreased overall complications. Early feeding for critically ill patients may be provided via enteral or parenteral routes. According to international guidelines,1–3  enteral feeding is the preferred method for patients who have a functioning gastrointestinal (GI) tract but who cannot maintain adequate oral intake. The advantages of enteral nutrition include prevention of GI atrophy and the systemic spread of GI bacteria.

As with any intervention, potential challenges and side effects need to be taken into consideration. One main issue with feeding via the enteral...

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