Factors affecting oral feeding with severe traumatic brain injury

Safe and adequate nutrition, vital to the recovery from a traumatic brain i njury; can be severely compromised by the presence of dysphagia. This study identified injury severity and swallowing factors that were associated wit h impaired oral intake in patients with severe brain injury, An admitting G lasgow Coma Scale (GSC) 3-5; a Rancho Los Amigos Scale of Cognitive Functio ning OVA) Level II; a computed tomography (CT) scan exhibiting, midline shi ft, brainstem involvement, or brain pathology requiring emergent operative procedures; or ventilation time greater than or equal to 15 days identified patients at highest risk for abnormal swallowing, aspiration, and delay in initiation of oral feeding and achievement of total oral feeding. When com bined in multivariate models, RLA Level, CT scan, ventilation time and aspi ration emerged as significant independent predictors of impaired oral intak e.