Enteral nutritional support in burn patients.

Early and continued nutritional support has been determined to be an important component of therapy for seriously burned patients. The hypermetabolic response to severe injury requires increased calorie and protein intake to blunt the catabolism and loss of lean muscle mass. Enteral feeding has been found to directly nourish the gastrointestinal tract and may help reverse the defective gut barrier which accompanies burn shock. In contrast, intravenous nutritional support appears to lack effectiveness in burn patients and may actually increase morbidity and mortality.