Objective To explore the influence of percutaneous gastrostomy-jejunostomy ( PEG-J) on the nutritional status and prognosis of critically ill patients in ICU .Methods Totally 58 patients who received me-chanical ventilation in the ICU of Changshu No .1 People's Hospital from January 2013 to December 2015 were di-vided into two groups according to random number table:treatment group ( n=28, enteral nutrition by establis-hing PEG-J tube in 120 hours after excluding contraindications );and control group ( n=30, nasogastric tube as the way of giving enteral nutrition and if delayed gastric emptying happened , nasogastric tube would be replaced by nasointestinal tube).The incidence of ventilation-associated pneumonia (VAP) within 28 days, duration of ICU stay, and duration of mechanical ventilation were compared between these two groups .Results The inci-dence of 28-day VAP (7.14%vs.26.67%, P=0.049), duration of ICU stay [ (13.6 ±5.9) d vs.(16.8 ± 4.4) d, P=0.024], duration of mechanical ventilation [ (8.1 ±5.0) d vs.(10.7 ±4.5) d, P=0.041] were significantly lower or shorter in treatment group than in control group .Conclusions The use of PEG-J tube for enteral nutrition in critically ill patients is reliable and safe .It also helps to reduce VAP .