Enteral and parenteral nutrition support for criticall illness patients

Objective: To investigate the remedial effect of enteral nutrition(EN) on ICU patients.Methods: Fifty ICU patients were randomly assigned to EN group and parenteral nutritional(PN) group as control,with 25 patients in each.Both EN and PN groups were given preparations of the same amount of colorie and nitrogen.Before and 9 days after nutritional support,their serum albumin,serum forealbumin and hemoglobin levels,as well as the thickness of skin fold at musculus triceps brachii and muscular perimeter of the arm,were determined.Results: The serum forealbumin and serum albumin in the patients with EN support were markedly improved(P<0.01),compared with those in the patients with PN support(P<0.01).However,the hemoglobin and the thickness of skin fold at musculus triceps brachii and muscular perimeter of the arm were not statistically different in the two groups.Conclusions: Compared with PN support,EN support might significantly ameliorate the nutritional state of ICU patients.