[Our experience with ambulatory enteral nutrition]

Enteral nutrition in the home of the patient, has gained interest in recent years. In our health care area, we do not have a Unit of at Home Hospitalization, which has not prevented the implementation of this therapeutic modality in certain types of patients. 89 cases who have undergone enteral Nutrition in their home after the last hospital admission, were reviewed. According to the basic pathology, 41.6% (37 patients) correspond to neurological patients; 51.7% correspond to neoplasmic patients, and 6.7% are classified as miscellaneous. The average age is 64 years (18 months-92 years); the mean caloric ingestion is 1,520 Kcal/day (500-2,500), and the duration is a mean of 315 days (7-1,560). The complications observed through ambulatory visits of the patient and/or the family, accounted for a total of 36, of which 30 (83%) were digestive, and were corrected with the usual methods. In 8 cases (22%), it involved mechanical complications, and only 2 cases involved metabolic complications. Only 1 serious complication (massive bronchoaspiration) could have been avoided. The results indicate a good degree of acceptance, with similar results to those described by other authors, and with a low incidence of severe complications.