RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of early enteral nutrition (EN) standardized treatment process management on the ventilation treatment effect and prognosis of patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) on invasive mechanical ventilation. METHODS: Forty-three patients with AECOPD on invasive mechanical ventilation admitted to Shenzhen Baoan District People's Hospital from January 2017 to December 2018 were enrolled. According to the start time of the continuous quality improvement project of nutritional support treatment for critically ill patients in the hospital, 20 patients from January 1st to December 31st in 2017 were enrolled in the routine EN group, and 23 patients from January 1st to December 31st in 2018 were enrolled in the early EN group. In the early EN group, when the patient was hemodynamically stable within 24 hours after intensive care unit (ICU) admission and there was no contraindication for EN, early trans nasal intestinal EN was started, and the infusion rate was adjusted or parenteral nutrition was added according to the EN tolerance score. The target feeding amount was 104.6-125.5 kJ×kg-1×d-1, and achieve complete EN. The conventional EN group started EN after patients had experienced the early stress stage, the vital signs were stable, and 48 hours after ICU admission. The management process was the same as the early EN group. The ventilation indicators including rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI), arterial blood pH value, arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO2), arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), and base excess (BE) at weaning, PaCO2, CO2 retention rate at 2 hours after weaning, as well as critical management indicators including the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, length of ICU stay, total hospitalization cost and re-intubation rate between the two groups were compared. RESULTS: After the early EN standardized treatment process management, the RSBI at weaning of the patients in the early EN group was significantly lower than that in the conventional EN group (times×min-1×L-1: 36.68±16.12 vs. 52.63±14.81, P < 0.05), but no significant difference in pH value, PaO2, PaCO2 or BE was found as compared with the conventional EN group. The PaCO2 and CO2 retention rate at 2 hours after weaning in the early EN group were significantly lower than those in the conventional EN group [PaCO2 (mmHg, 1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa): 52.48±7.62 vs. 58.32±8.43, CO2 retention rate: (10.25±2.86)% vs. (18.46±3.21)%, both P < 0.05]. Compared with the conventional EN group, the incidence of VAP [8.7% (2/23) vs. 15.0% (3/20)], duration of invasive mechanical ventilation (hours: 52.64±14.81 vs. 53.78±12.75), length of ICU stay (days: 4.92±1.26 vs. 5.24±1.84), total hospitalization costs (thousand Yuan: 20.9±4.8 vs. 21.0±6.9) and re-intubation rate [13.0% (3/23) vs. 20.0% (4/20)] were slightly decreased in the early EN group without statistically significance (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The management of early EN standardized treatment process for patients with AECOPD on invasive mechanical ventilation may alleviate the respiratory muscle fatigue status, and does not increase the complications.