If you have a feed into your bloodstream through a drip into a vein, it is called parenteral nutrition PN. With parenteral nutrition PN the feeds don't go through your normal digestive system. A PICC line goes up a blood vessel in your arm and into a chest vein. Other types of central lines go into the chest and a major blood vessel, as this diagram shows:. When it is not in use, a cap seals the central line.

Types of tube feeding



Tube Feeding: Living With a Feeding Tube | Michigan Medicine
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy PEG feeding tubes are now being used more often than in the past. PEG feeding is used if you have problems with swallowing or if you cannot eat or drink enough. PEG is usually the recommended method of help with feeding if your bowel is working normally and you need long-term help with feeding. A percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy PEG feeding tube is a way to give food, fluids and medicines directly into the stomach by passing a thin tube through the skin and into the stomach. For tube feeding over a long period of time, PEG feeding tubes are more comfortable and easier to use than a tube passed through your nose and down into your stomach nasogastric tube.


Types of Feeding Tubes and Their Uses
Enteral feeding or 'tube feeding' is a very common inpatient intervention to maintain nutritional status where the oral route is inadequate, unsafe or inaccessible. A proportion of patients will need to continue tube feeding in the community after their admission and will require a gastrostomy tube. Although gastrostomy insertion is relatively straightforward, it is not without complications in an often frail and vulnerable group of patients and a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to ensure that the procedure is appropriate. Some patients are better managed with careful assisted hand feeding or nasogastric tubes.

A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to people who cannot obtain nutrition by mouth, are unable to swallow safely, or need nutritional supplementation. The state of being fed by a feeding tube is called gavage , enteral feeding or tube feeding. Placement may be temporary for the treatment of acute conditions or lifelong in the case of chronic disabilities. A variety of feeding tubes are used in medical practice. They are usually made of polyurethane or silicone.