Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify trauma patients who would benefit from surgical placement of an enteral feeding tube during their index abdominal trauma operation.We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients admitted to 2 level I trauma centers between January 2013 and February 2018 requiring urgent exploratory abdominal surgery.Six-hundred and one patients required exploratory abdominal surgery within 24 hours of admission after trauma activation. Nineteen (3% of total) patients underwent placement of a feeding tube after their initial exploratory surgery. On multivariate analysis, an intracranial Abbreviated Injury Scale =4 (odds ratio [OR] = 9.24, 95% CI 1.09-78.26, P = .04) and a Glasgow Coma Scale =8 (OR = 4.39, 95% CI 1.38-13.95, P = .01) were associated with increased odds of requiring a feeding tube. All patients who required a feeding tube had an Injury Severity Score =15. While not statistically significant, patients with an open surgical feeding tube compared with interventional radiology/percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy placement had lower median intensive care unit length of stay, fewer ventilator days, and shorter median total hospital length of stay.Trauma patients with severe intracranial injury already requiring urgent exploratory abdominal surgery may benefit from early, concomitant placement of a feeding tube during the index abdominal operation, or at fascial closure.

View details for DOI 10.1177/0003134820923302

View details for PubMedID 32683978