Evaluation of Two Methods of Jejunal Placement of Enteral Feeding Tubes in Critically Ill Patients

In patients with high gastric residual volumes jejunal feeding is recommended. Jejunal feeding tubes can be placed in different ways. The endoscopic technique yields a success rate between 90 and 98% for a correct jejunal placement. However, it requires endoscopic equipment and trained staff. In contrast in small uncontrolled trials different unguided techniques resulted in success rates up to 75%, only. In this prospective randomized trial the success rate of a correct jejunal placement with the endoscopic technique is compared with the unguided frictional technique. The investigators hypothesize that the success rate of the unguided frictional placement method will be lower than the success rate of the endoscopic method.