Early Enteral Nutrition with Immunonutrients in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury in the Intensive Care Unit

  • Gisela Ponce y Ponce de León Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
  • José de Jesús Mayagoitia Witrón Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
  • José Manuel Cornejo Bravo Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
  • María Eugenia Pérez Morales Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
  • Ulises Rieke Campoy Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
  • Alejandro Mayagoitia Ponce Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara

Abstract

Early enteral nutrition is initiated in the first 24-48 hours after injury or admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). It is a nutritional support method with beneficial effects that improves the patient’s outcome. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the third cause of death in México related to accidents and violence; therefore, it is considered a serious public health problem. The objective of this study was to determine if early enteral nutrition with immunonutrients (EENI) supplied to TBI patients diminishes morbidity and mortality in Mexicali´s General Hospital ICU. It was a randomized clinical study. Patients that were included were those admitted to the ICU during the time period from August 1st of 2016 to June 30th of 2017 that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Two groups were formed: one was the control group submitted to early enteral nutrition with blended diet and the other group of study which was submitted to EENI. The study included 16 males (72.7%) patients and 6 females (27.3%), with an average age of 34.7 years. The main causes of TBI were run over and motor vehicle accidents in 54.6%. The group with EENI, when compared to the control group, showed an increase in weight (Student T 23.737, p=.001), total proteins (Student T 13.40, p=.001), white blood cells (Student T of 2.05, p=.002) and lymphocytes (Student T of 7.09, p=.001) at their discharge from the ICU, with decrease in pneumonia (t de Student 13.78, p=0.001), urinary tract infection (t de Student 8.07, p=0.001) and the length of stay at the ICU (X2 Spearman -.432, p=0.05), the days of mechanical ventilation (X2 Spearman -.432, p=0.05) and enteral nutrition (X2 Spearman -.425, p=0.05). The mortality was less in the EENI group without any significant difference reported. EENI can have a positive impact, decreasing the incidence of infectious complications and length of stay in the ICU, therefore improving patient´s health in less time and also reducing hospitalization costs.
Published
2019-06-05
How to Cite
Ponce y Ponce de León, G., Mayagoitia Witrón, J. de J., Cornejo Bravo, J. M., Pérez Morales, M. E., Rieke Campoy, U., & Mayagoitia Ponce, A. (2019). Early Enteral Nutrition with Immunonutrients in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury in the Intensive Care Unit. RICS Revista Iberoamericana De Las Ciencias De La Salud, 8(16), 21 - 45. https://doi.org/10.23913/rics.v8i16.80
Section
Artículos Científicos

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