Abstract:

Objective To observe the effects of enteral nutrition（EN）emulsion with low⁃methoxyl pectin in patients with severe traumatic brain injury（sTBI）. Methods Eighty severe craniocerebral trauma patients were randomized into pectin or control group（each n = 40）. The EN support began within 24～48 hours after the patients were transferred to ICU. In addition，the pectin group received low ⁃methoxyl pectin for 7 days. Average blood glucose（GLUave），blood glucose variation coefficient（GLUcv），amount of insulin used and pre⁃albumin （PA）were observed 7 days after EN support. Gastrointestinal tolerance situations，the duration of mechanical ventilation（MV）and incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia（VAP）were studied. Results Significantly lower levels of GLUave and GLUcv were observed in the pectin group compared with those of the control group（P < 0.05）. There were significantly shorter hours of insulin therapy in pectin group than in control group（P < 0.05），but there was no significant difference of numbers of patients treated with insulin between two groups（P = 0.16）. The PA of pectin group was significantly higher than that in control group（P < 0.05），and the indexes of gastrointestinal toler⁃ ance were better in pectin group（P < 0.05）. The duration of MV in pectin groups were shorter than that of control group（P < 0.05），but there was no significant difference in the incidences of VAP between two groups（P = 0.46）. Conclusions Low⁃methoxyl pectin could facilitate blood glucose control and gastrointestinal tolerance in patients with severe traumatic brain injury，and it also could shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation and contribute to the improvement of nutritional status

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