Subjective distress during continuous enteral alimentation: superiority of silicone rubber to polyurethane

A small-bore feeding tube of silicone rubber was developed in order to improve the acceptance of enteral feeding. The insertion procedure was facilitated by providing a double guidewire which allows continuous adjustment of tip rigidity. The usefulness of this tube was tested in a short-term and a long-term volunteer study as well as in a prospective follow-up of patients receiving enteral nutrition. The volunteer study showed that the newly developed tube significantly reduced subjective distress (rank value 14) when compared to a conventional tube made of polyurethane (rank value 20). In the patient study, 131 silicone rubber tubes were used in 85 patients who received enteral nutrition for a total period of 2080 days and complained about foreign-body feeling and rhinorrhea in only 3.7% and 0.5% of the days, respectively. The rate of inadvertent removals was relatively low (32%), mainly due to restricted mental status of the patients.