Enteral nutrition, also known as tube feeding, is a way of sending nutrition right to the stomach or small intestine. Your healthcare professional might suggest tube feeding if you can't eat or drink enough to get the nutrients you need.

Tube feeding outside a hospital is called home enteral nutrition (HEN). A HEN care team can teach you how to feed yourself through a tube. The team can give you support when you have problems.

HEN might be for you if you have trouble eating, but your digestive system works as usual. Reasons you might have trouble eating include:

• Cancer, such as head and neck cancers, or cancer treatment that makes it hard or painful to swallow.
• Problems of the brain or spinal cord, also called neurological. Examples include stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
• Problems of the stomach and intestines. Examples are delayed gastric emptying, also called gastroparesis, or something blocking your bowel, called an obstruction.
• Trauma, such as an injury to your digestive tract.