Many patients who have received maxillofacial surgery require enteral nutrition; however, consideration might be necessary because such patients have gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea during nutritional management. We evaluated the effects of a novel concentrated liquid diet, HINE E-Gel (E-Gel), which turns semi-solid in the stomach, on gastrointestinal symptoms as compared with the effects of HINE, which is a marketed and generally used concentrated liquid diet.
A prospective randomized parallel open-label trial was conducted using E-Gel and HINE in 78 patients who required nasogastric nutrition after maxillofacial surgery. The test diet was administered from the day of surgery through 3 days after surgery (total 4 days) three times daily at a rate of 200 to 300 mL/hour. The dose was determined according to the patient’s sex and body weight. Achievement rates of successful nutritional control, body weight, nutritional parameters, and the occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated. The achievement rate of the successful nutritional control was 67.5% (27/40) in the E-Gel group and 39.4% (15/38) in the HINE group. The incidence of gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea was 25.0% (10/40) in the E-Gel group and 50.0% (19/38) in the HINE group. There were significant differences between two groups in the two endpoints.
In conclusion, E-Gel, which turns semi-solid in the stomach, improved the achievement rate of successful nutritional control and the rate of gastrointestinal symptoms during nutritional management after maxillofacial surgery.
