REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Gastroenterology
Multi-dimensional Factors and Intervention Strategies for Nasoenteric Tube Dysfunction: Research Progress and Future Perspectives
Provisionally accepted
- The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Nasoenteric tube (NET) is indispensable for the delivery of enteral nutrition for hospitalized patients. However, their clinical utility is frequently compromised by dysfunction-related complications, including tube malposition, obstruction and displacement. These issues disrupt nutritional therapy, escalate healthcare costs, and exert adverse impact on patient outcomes. Here, we review the multi-factorial etiology of NET dysfunction, encompassing tube-related factors (material properties, structural design and fixation techniques), treatment protocols (nutritional formulation physicochemical properties, drug-nutrient interactions and infusion protocols), nursing practices (flushing practices and errors in the administration of medications) and patient factors (cognitive impairment and non-compliance). To mitigate these issues, we propose intervention strategies, including tube optimization, such as the adoption of polyurethane tubes and guided placement techniques (ultrasound/X-ray) to minimize malposition; protocol standardization (implementing ASPEN guidelines for the administration of medications, including pre-/post-flushing with 30 ml of warm water and avoiding crushed extended-release drugs; multidisciplinary training, such as enhancing the competency of caregivers via education relating to tube maintenance and drug-nutrient compatibility; and patient-tailored strategies, such as using nasal bridle fixation for high-risk patients and sedation protocols for those with cognitive impairment. this review provides a theoretical foundation to optimize the clinical management and efficacy of nutritional therapy. Future research should prioritize the development of risk stratification tools that combine material science, patient factors, and nursing practice to pre-emptively identify high-risk cases and develop integrated scoring systems to evaluate synergistic effects in relation to the cognitive status of patients, tube properties, and nutritional formula viscosity.
Keywords: nasoenteric tube, Tube dysfunction, Feeding interruption, influencing factor, intervention strategies
Received: 04 Jun 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Han and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Zhao, yanzhao@alu.zcmu.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.