Effect of a bulk-forming cathartic on diarrhea in tube-fed patients

Diarrhea is a significant complication for the patient being tube-fed. The purpose of this study was to observe whether giving a bulk-forming cathartic to patients receiving enteral nutrition via nasogastric or nasoduodenal tube would result in firmer stools for these patients. Forty-nine patients in a large medical center were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. During the 6-day study period 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of psyllium preparation was administered through the feeding tube three times a day. Data were analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U test for nonparametric data. The hypothesis that giving a bulk-forming cathartic would lead to firmer stools was supported at an alpha level of less than 0.01. The results of this study suggest that use of a bulk-forming cathartic in tube-fed patients will significantly reduce the diarrhea associated with this type of feeding.