A review of 253 patients treated with enteral nutrition support via tube feedings is presented for the purpose of evaluating the incidence of complications. Thirty patients, (11.7%) experienced either gastrointestinal, (6.2%) mechanical (3.5%), or metabolic (2.0%) complications. The recognition and treatment of such complications are discussed and it is concluded that tube feedings are safely tolerated by most patients; however, constant attention must be exerted to either avoid or recognize such complications.

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A prospective study analyzing the complications in 307 patients who had specialized nutrition support administered by their private practitioners was performed and compared to other series in which a nutrition support service exclusively provided such care of patients. The mechanical complication rate of 4.6%, septic complication rate of 2.9%, and metabolic complication rate of 4.2% compared favorably with the reported literature. A new category of complications, the judgmental complication, is described and was 12.7% in the reported series. The Saint Barnabas Medical Center experience suggests that individual practitioners can satisfactorily administer intravenous specialized nutrition support if in fact an involved nutrition support service functions administratively and supportively in the background.

A prospectively studied series of 1072 patients who received specialized nutritional support are presented to evaluate the patterns of such care in a large nonuniversity teaching center. Age, service, materials used, routes of administration, complications, assessment parameters, duration of treatment, diagnoses, and survival statistics are presented. Such patterns are considered to be of importance to medical scientists, basic researchers, hospital administrators, governmental agencies, and members of the health care insurance industry.