Feeding tube

A feeding tube or use of enteral nutrition is a way to manage certain severe gastrointestinal problems or to increase food intake in a small number of patients with severe ME/CFS.

Feeding tubes typically refer to use of a catheter (narrow tube) to deliver liquid nutrition directly into part of the gastrointestinal tract, eg the jejunum or stomach.

Parenteral nutrition refera to nutrition delivered intravenously through a central line near the top of the chest. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is the use of patenteral nutritional to fulfill all dietary needs (without eating).

Theory
Feeding can take place when severe gastroparesis prevents food being digested quickly enough by placing a tube lower in the digestive tract.

Types

 * NG - nasogastric tube - tube from nose to stomach
 * NJ - nasojejunal tube - tube from nose to small intestine
 * PEG - a gastrostomy places a tube into the stomach
 * PEJ - a jejunostomy places the tube into the small intestine
 * TPN - total parenteral nutrition - surgery places an IV tube into a vein, bypassing the gastrointestinal tract

Evidence
No studies have investigated the effects of the feeding, it is typically a last resort.

Patients who have used feeding tubes for ME/CFS include:
 * Merryn Crofts
 * Lynn Gilderdale
 * Whitney Dafoe

News and articles

 * 2022, Girl, 11, using feeding tube to eat a year after Covid left her too weak to move - Daily Mirror

Notable studies

 * 2021, Life-Threatening Malnutrition in Very Severe ME/CFS - (Full text)
 * 2021, Extremely Severe ME/CFS—A Personal Account - (Full text)

Risks and safety
Feeding tubes carry varying degrees of risk, including risks of surgery, complications from incorrect placement, risk of infection, and risk of nutritional deficiencies or complications from the feed used.

Risks of not using a feeding tube are also expected to be taken into account, for example continuing severe and rapid weight loss, becoming too weak from lack of food to swallow food, and life-threatening malnutrition. Risks from a TPN are significantly more than from nasal feeding tubes.

Costs and availability
Generally these require hospital treatment to insert or check.

Learn more

 * Home enteral nutrition - Mayo Clinic
 * Total Parenteral Nutrition - MedlinePlus