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Correspondence and Brief Communications
January 1, 2007

Bowel Necrosis Associated With Early Jejunal Tube Feeding

Arch Surg. 2007;142(1):100-101. doi:10.1001/archsurg.142.1.100-b

We read with interest the article by Melis at al1 reporting a case of bowel necrosis during postoperative enteral feeding, a procedure extensively used in upper digestive surgery. The authors reviewed the possible mechanisms underlying this complication, and increased energy demand from the enterocytes is ascribed as one of the factors contributing to the nonocclusive necrosis of the bowel in association with bacterial overgrowth and tube-feeding composition.1 Nevertheless, the authors conclude that from the available data, it is not possible to identify risk factors for intestinal ischemia during enteral feeding, omitting in their review important variables such as feeding interval and feeding type.1

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