Design and setting:Prospective, open-label, randomized study in an intensive care unit of a university hospital.
Patients:One hundred and four CHI adult patients admitted for TBI between April 2007 and December 2008. Patients were included within the first 24 h after ICU admission and were followed until discharge or 30 days after admission.
Intervention:Patients were randomized to TPF or GF groups. They received the same diet, with 25 kcal kg−1 day−1 of calculated energy requirements and a nitrogen intake of 0.2 g N kg−1 day−1. Primary outcome was the incidence of early and ventilatory-associated pneumonia. Secondary outcomes were enteral nutrition-related gastrointestinal complications (GIC), days on mechanical ventilation, length of ICU stay and hospital stay, and sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA).
Results:The TPF group had a lower incidence of pneumonia, OR 0.3 (95% CI 0.1–0.7, P = 0.01). There were no significant differences in other nosocomial infections. The TPF group received higher amounts of diet compared to the GF group (92 vs. 84%, P < 0.01) and had lesser incidence of increased gastric residuals, OR 0.2 (95% CI 0.04–0.6, P = 0.003).
Conclusions:Enteral nutrition delivered through the transpyloric route reduces the incidence of overall and late pneumonia and improves nutritional efficacy in severe TBI patients.