Enteric feeding in severe adolescent anorexia nervosa: a report of four cases

Refeeding patients with anorexia nervosa can be one of the more challenging aspects of their treatment, and particularly if all food and fluids are adamantly and persistently refused.

If the decision is made to augment or replace oral feeds, the most common intervention is nasogastric feeding.

Although this is often successful, a subset of patients manage to sabotage feeding via this route. Other means of delivering nutrition such as intravenous feeds are often impractical for long-term use. Another alternative in such life-threatening situations is the use of enteric feeds via gastrostomy or jejunostomy. This paper presents the successful use of such enteric feeding in four cases of severe adolescent anorexia nervosa.

The psychological, legal, and ethical issues involved are discussed, concluding that gastrostomy and jejunostomy are valid lifesaving methods to feed highly resistant anorectic patients.