Continuous elemental enteral alimentation in children with Crohn's disease and growth failure

Four children aged (11.7-13.5 yr) with protracted growth retardation related to Crohn's disease, received a 6-wk period of continuous elemental enteral alimentation with no other form of treatment. Despite drug therapy the yearly height and weight gain velocities of these children (1.7 +/- 0.3 cm and -0.8 +/- 1.4 kg, respectively) had been abnormal during the previous 2 yr. All patients experienced a complete remission of symptoms, improved nutritional status, and significant height (1.8 +/- 0.3 cm) and weight (3.8 +/- 0.5 kg) gains during the 67 wk of treatment. After cessation of elemental enteral alimentation, 3 of the 4 patients continued to grow, and over a period of 4.5 mo from the beginning of this form of nutritional therapy, they gained an average of 5.0 +/- 1.6 kg and 3.5 +/- 0.3 cm. The disease became active thereafter, and the 3 children resumed their previously abnormal growth patterns during the ensuing year. The 4th patient had surgery 2 mo after elemental enteral alimentation and experienced a subsequent second spurt of growth and pubertal changes. This study suggests that a relatively short course of elemental enteral alimentation leads to a temporary resumption of growth in children with severe growth failure and Crohn's disease. The possibility that repeated courses of elemental enteral alimentation might be beneficial needs to be explored.