[Quality of support by artificial nutrition: difficulties with AIDS patients]

The use of Enteral Nutrition (EN) in patients with AIDS with a severe nutritional deterioration, is the most common route, not only because of the risk/benefit relation, bur also because this is a physiological route that is easily managed and is profitable in terms of renutrition. However, and given the characteristics of the affected population, whose origin in a large percentage is the addiction to parenteral drugs, implanting this route in these patients is a challenge, as these patients refuse in more than 50% of the cases. Moreover, the risk group is not only a factor in the difficulty for applying the ideal across route, but also the combination of other elements like sex or the disease itself, force the clinical to use more aggressive methods (Parenteral Nutrition) or those that are less profitable nutritionally (Supplements). The negative aspects with regard to tube feeding of these patients are shown, in relation to the factors, and these are compared with the negative aspects of other diagnosis groups (rest of the Hospital).