[Immediate postoperative enteral feeding with an elemental diet (Survimed) using a new application form of the...

In a prospective study (n = 50) the clinical usefulness of a fine-needle-catheter-jejunostomy based on the method of Delany et al. [1] was studied. In all cases the jejunostomy was inserted intraoperatively without difficulty and without complication. The set used (Intestofix) consisted of one polyurethan-catheter (75 cm length), 2.1 mm inner diameter) and of two hollow needles constructed as split-cannulas. This system has been proved in our study to be simple, rapid and safe. Patient's tolerance of the feeding was, however, unsatisfactory; diarrhea occurred on the 5th postoperative day in 35% of all patients, in addition we observed inconvenient belching (42.5%) and sensation of repletion (25%). There may be different causes for these uncomfortable symptoms; for example application schedule or the composition of food. We think that the operation itself exerts an important influence upon patient's tolerance because patients without operation but under the same conditions tolerate the nutrition via jejunostomy better than those in our study (with concomitant operation).