[Application and fixation systems in enteral nutrition]

Enteral nutrition is becoming more convenient because of a lot of available different techniques. Tubes can be placed nasogastrically, nasoduodenally or nasojejunally, as bedside method controlled by X-ray or with the aid of an endoscope. If there is a risk of spontaneous removal, fixing with a stabilisation system is helpful. In cases where the tube should be hidden, a specially prepared plastic olive placed in the nostril can be used. All these methods are of interest for short and medium term enteral nutrition. For long term enteral nutrition, the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, especially the so-called 'thread-pass-through' method is increasingly in use. All attempts to arrange a simpler method using direct punction techniques have failed up to now. The following paper gives a survey of different technical possibilities.