Study aim: The benefit of enteral nutrition is an established fact for severely burned or multiple injured patients with a reduction of septic morbidity. Enteral nutrition is now possible in upper gastrointestinal tract surgery with the development of nasojejunal triple lumen tube and we report a new application with an operative placement. The aim of the study was to evaluate the nasojejunal triple lumen tube in digestive surgery.
Material and methods: From November 1999 to August 2001, a nasojejunal triple lumen tube was placed during surgery for high surgical risk patients (n = 17) or under radioscopic control for the treatment of post operative complications (n = 6).
Results: The surgical placement was possible in all cases. The radioscopic placement failed in two cases, one of which being solved with endoscopic procedure. There was no morbidity during the tube placement. Four patients were excluded because of early post operative death (n = 3) or premature removal of the tube by the patient (n = 1). The enteral nutrition was early in 18 patients and its mean duration was 18.2 days (range 3-75). Technical problems occurred in 9 patients and the replacement of the tube was necessary in 8 cases.
Conclusion: The nasojejunal triple lumen tube is a feasible, safe and relatively well-tolerated procedure in upper gastrointestinal tract surgery.