Duodenal tube feeding: An alternative approach for effectively promoting weight gain in children with gastroesophageal reflux and congenital heart disease

Abstract

We tested whether duodenal tube feeding effectively improves the clinical symptoms and body weight gain in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and gastroesophageal reflux (GER). In the retrospective analysis of 17 consecutive children with CHD who were treated with duodenal tube feeding for symptomatic GER, we found that clinical symptoms of persistent emesis or respiratory wheezing after feeding disappeared with duodenal tube feeding in all patients. Duodenal tube feeding facilitated a stable nutritional supply, resulting in marked improvement of weight gain from 6 to 21 g/day (P