Risk of Regurgitation and Aspiration in Patients Infused with Different Volumes of Enteral Nutrition

Background: Patients with stroke suffer from nutrition impairments and often rely on enteral nutrition (EN), which is associated with respiratory complications such as regurgitation and aspiration. Objective: To evaluate the incidence of regurgitation and aspiration in patients with severe stroke infused with different volumes of EN. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 210 patients with severe stroke undergoing EN therapy. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups. Subjects in the treatment group received EN with an initial rate defined according to the total volume and the infusion rate was adjusted based on gastric residual volume (GRV) assessed every 4 hours. Subjects of the control group received EN without monitoring the GRV and reached the target infusion volume within 72 hours. The incidence of reflux and aspiration was recorded. Results: The incidences of regurgitation and aspiration were significantly lower in treatment group (6.3% and 7.9%, respectively) than control group (18.8% and 17.5%, respectively). In the treatment group, 1 patient developed regurgitation while 2 developed aspiration when EN was 500 mL. When EN increased to 1000 mL, 2 patients developed regurgitation and 2 developed aspiration, and 5 patients developed regurgitation and 6 had aspiration when EN was 1500 mL. There was no significant difference in the risk of reflux and aspiration when total volume of EN increased from 500 to 1500 mL. Conclusions: During EN therapy for patients with stroke, using feeding pump with a continuous infusion for 20 hours and adjusting infusion rate based on GRV could reduce the incidence of respiratory complications.