Effect of early enteral nutrition with probiotics on gastrointestinal motility disturbance and nutritional status of patients with severe craniocerebral trauma

Objective To investigate effect of early enteral nutrition supplemented with probiotics on gastrointestinal motility disturbance and nutritional status in patients with severe craniocerebral trauma.Methods Forty patients with severe craniocerebral trauma were randomized into study group (18patients) and control group (22 patients).Patients of both groups received enteral nutrition via nasogastric tube at 24-72 hours after admission,but the patients of study group were also supplemented with probiotics simultaneously.Rate of abdominal distention,vomiting,gastro-oesophageal reflux,gastric retention,constipation and diarrhea were recorded during the whole study.Time to first defecation and time to targeted nutritional goals were also recorded.Prealbumin and transferrin in serum were detected at days 0,4,7,and 15 after the beginning of enteral nutrition.Length of ICU stay was compared between groups.Results There were no significant differences of the two groups in terms of rate of abdominal distention,vomiting,gastric retention and diarrhea.However,less gastro-oesophageal reflux or constipation patients were observed in study group,as compared with control group (P ＜ 0.05).Time to first defecation and time to targeted nutritional goals were shorter in study group,as compared with control group (P ＜ 0.05).Levels of prealbumin and transferrin had no significant differences between the two groups at days 0,4,and 7,but study group showed both were higher than control group at day 15 (P＜0.05).Moreover,length of ICU stay showed no significant difference between the two groups.Conclusions Compared with simple enteral nutrition,early enteral nutrition with probiotics improves gastrointestinal motility,facilitates the delivery of enteral nutrition,and further ameliorates nutritional status in patients with severe craniocerebral trauma. Key words: Craniocerebral trauma;  Prebiotics;  Enteral nutrition;  Nutritional status ; Gastrointestinal motility