Enteral feeding system with controlled reflux preventive vacuum sealing

1. An enteral feeding system comprising:

an enteral feeding tube comprising:

(a) a main lumen having one or more proximal connectors for connecting to a source of substances or pressure;

(b) at least four discrete vacuum lumens peripherally surrounding said main lumen; each said at least four vacuum lumens comprising a suction port for sealingly drawing an inner wall of an esophagus thereagainst, wherein at least some of said suction ports are spaced apart between at least two different locations along a longitudinal axis of said tube; and

(c) an electronically controlled switching mechanism comprising one or more suction valves connected to said at least four vacuum lumens, said one or more suction valves are structured to interchange applied vacuum between those of said at least four vacuum lumens which are associated with suction ports located at a first longitudinal location and those of said at least four vacuum lumens which are associated with suction ports located at a second longitudinal location, thereby changing location of esophagus sealing to the enteral feeding tube and diminishing or preventing damage to esophageal tissue caused by applying suction;

a pump configured to draw a liquid from a reservoir to the enteral feeding tube; and

a controller configured to automatically control the pump and the switching mechanism and to prevent said pump from providing a liquid to said main lumen unless the esophagus of the patient is sealingly drawn against at least some of the suction ports of the at least four vacuum lumens,

wherein controlling the pump and the switching mechanism comprises coordinating the operation of the switching mechanism with the operation of the pump, thereby coordinating the changing of the location of esophagus sealing to the enteral feeding tube with supply of the liquid.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the switching mechanism by selecting to activate or deactivate any of the one or more suction valves.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein each of the at least four vacuum lumens is associated with a different valve of the one or more valves.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more suction valves are selected from the group consisting of: a pinch valve, a butterfly valve, and a diaphragm valve.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to alternate suction between the vacuum lumens having suction ports at a distal location and the vacuum lumens having suction ports at a proximal location of the enteral feeding tube.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a decompression lumen comprising a decompression port positioned distally to the suction ports of the at least four vacuum ports and a gastric decompression valve; wherein the controller is further configured to control said gastric decompression valve via said switching mechanism.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the gastric decompression lumen is configured to siphon a fluid from a stomach of a patient to the reservoir coupled to the decompression lumen via the switching mechanism.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface to enable a practitioner to set one or more parameters for controlling application of a suction to any of the two or more lumens via the controller and switching mechanism.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a second user interface to enable a patient to set a subset of the one or more parameters.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the user interface may enable the practitioner and/or patient to instruct the controller to activate the decompression valve to relieve abdominal discomfort.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the decompression port is positioned 50-200 mm distally to the suction ports of the at least four vacuum lumens.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the suction applied for a predetermined time period after said pump has finished delivering food and/or medicine via said main lumen.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control flow through the decompression lumen and coordinate it with the operation of the pump and/or the suction valve.

14. A method for enteral feeding, comprising:

controlling an operation of a pump to draw a liquid from a reservoir to an enteral feeding tube that is inserted into an esophagus of a patient; and

controlling an operation of a switch associated with at least four vacuum lumens provided with the enteral feeding tube, thereby providing the liquid to the patient's stomach via the enteral feeding tube, while providing a vacuum to at least two of the at least four vacuum lumens, thereby sealing the wall of the esophagus to the at least four vacuum lumens; wherein controlling the operation of the switch comprises:

interchanging the applied vacuum between the vacuum lumens associated with suction ports located at a first longitudinal location and the vacuum lumens associated with suction ports located at a second longitudinal location, thereby changing sealing location of the esophagus to the enteral feeding tube;

coordinating the operation of the switch with the operation of the pump, thereby coordinating the changing of the sealing location of the sealing to the enteral feeding tube with supply of the liquid; and

controlling operation of the pump so as to prevent liquid from being provided to the tube unless the esophagus of the patient is sealingly drawn thereagainst.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising decompressing the patient's stomach or intestine via a gastric decompression lumen provided with the enteral feeding tube.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein controlling the switch comprises applying suction for a predetermined time period after the pump has finished delivering food and/or medicine via the tube.