Enteral nutrition is essential to the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. However, diarrhea and abdominal pain may occur if microbial contamination occurs through inappropriate handling of enteral nutrition solutions. This frequently happens when patients receive enteral nutrition using the specified self administration device (Portermate®) since there is no particular method for cleaning and sterilizing the device.
On monitoring enteral nutrients prepared by patients, we found that microbial contamination frequently occurred. It was therefore necessary to devise an easy and effective method for the prevention of microbial contamination of enteral nutrient preparations through sterilization of the device, and to instruct patients on how to do this. In this regard, we found sterilization of the device using sodium hypochlorite was more effective in reducing the degree of microbial contamination than boiling water or conventional washing procedures.
The above findings suggest that the use of sodium hypochlorite for sterilizing the Portermate® device by patients using enteral nutrient preparations would be a simple and effective way of avoiding the complications associated with contamination.