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CONTINUation of Enteral Nutrition Prior to Extubation Compared to Standard Care

NCT06382727 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2026-05-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often need to be connected to a breathing machine (ventilator) and are unable to eat. During this time, liquid nutrition is delivered via a feeding tube to the stomach or bowel (termed enteral nutrition (EN)) to ensure nutrition needs are provided until such time that the patient can eat normally.

The delivery of nutrition via EN is frequently interrupted due to procedures and changes in the gastrointestinal system that can cause digestion to be slow. One of the main contributors to EN interruptions is fasting prior to removal of the breathing tube (termed extubation).

The practice of pausing EN prior to the removal of the breathing tube is historical and based on evidence for patients who are not within the ICU. There is currently no scientific consensus on whether pausing of EN is necessary, or for how long. Because of this, some clinicians choose to pause EN prior to removal of the breathing tube and some clinicians continue to provide EN.

This study is a pilot randomised controlled trial of fasting patients for at least 4 hours prior to removal of the breathing tube compared with not pausing EN. The investigators hypothesise that this will reduce the number of hours of fasting in the 24 hours prior to extubation.

Conditions

  • Critical Illness

Interventions

OTHER

EN will be continued up to extubation (EN will not be withheld prior to extubation)

As per the arm/group descriptions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Emma Ridley

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-05-20
Primary Completion
2025-04-15
Completion
2025-08-28

Countries

  • Australia

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06382727 on ClinicalTrials.gov