Postoperative hypocaloric peripheral parenteral nutrition with branched-chain-enriched amino acids provides no better clinical advantage than fluid management in nonmalnourished colorectal cancer patients.

To assess clinical efficacy of using postoperative branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)-enriched nutritional support in lower gastrointestinal cancer patients, we conducted a retrospective observational study comparing this regimen with traditional fluid management. Sixty-one eligible colorectal cancer patients consecutively admitted in the Colorectal Surgery Ward to receive postoperative hypocaloric peripheral parenteral nutrition (HPPN) were categorized into dextrose-only control group (n = 20), dextrose plus low-dose BCAA fat group (n = 20), and dextrose plus high-dose BCAA fat group (n = 21). Nutritional, clinical, and biochemical outcomes were collected on the day before and 7 days after surgery. Patients were nonmalnourished. Over the 7-day observation period, the control group had a significantly higher reduction in body mass index than the lower dose and the higher dose BCAA groups (P = 0.023 and P = 0.002, respectively). Compared to high-dose BCAA group, the control group also had a lower nitrogen excretion (P < 0.0001) and less reduction in nitrogen balance (P < 0.0001). There were no differences between study groups in biochemical measures, phlebitis, postoperative hospital stay, and in-hospital mortality. We found no better clinical advantage to the postoperative administration of BCAA-enriched HPPN than fluid management in nonmalnourished colorectal cancer patients.

Association between illness severity and timing of initial enteral feeding in critically ill patients: a retrospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Early enteral nutrition is recommended in cases of critical illness. It is unclear whether this recommendation is of most benefit to extremely ill patients. We aim to determine the association between illness severity and commencement of enteral feeding. METHODS: One hundred and eight critically ill patients were grouped as "less severe" and "more severe" for this cross-sectional, retrospective observational study. The cut off value was based on Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score 20. Patients who received enteral feeding within 48 h of medical intensive care unit (ICU) admission were considered early feeding cases otherwise they were assessed as late feeding cases. Feeding complications (gastric retention/vomiting/diarrhea/gastrointestinal bleeding), length of ICU stay, length of hospital stay, ventilator-associated pneumonia, hospital mortality, nutritional intake, serum albumin, serum prealbumin, nitrogen balance (NB), and 24-h urinary urea nitrogen data were collected over 21 days. RESULTS: There were no differences in measured outcomes between early and late feedings for less severely ill patients. Among more severely ill patients, however, the early feeding group showed improved serum albumin (p=0.036) and prealbumin (p=0.014) but worsened NB (p=0.01), more feeding complications (p=0.005), and prolonged ICU stays (p=0.005) compared to their late feeding counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant association between severity of illness and timing of enteral feeding initiation. In more severe illness, early feeding was associated with improved nutritional outcomes, while late feeding was associated with reduced feeding complications and length of ICU stay. However, the feeding complications of more severely ill early feeders can be handled without significantly affecting nutritional intake and there is no eventual difference in length of hospital stay or mortality between groups. Consequently, early feeding shows to be a more beneficial nutritional intervention option than late feeding in patients with more severe illness.

Duodenal versus gastric feeding in medical intensive care unit patients: a prospective, randomized, clinical study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving nasoduodenal (ND) feedings achieve optimal nutritional support and better clinical outcomes compared with patients receiving nasogastric (NG) feedings. DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, clinical study. SETTING: Medical ICU of a university-affiliated tertiary medical center. PATIENTS: One hundred twenty-one medical ICU patients required enteral feeding. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomized to receive enteral feeding. One group received ND feedings and the other group received NG feedings. All patients followed the same protocol. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The primary outcome of optimal nutritional support was assessed by measurement of time to goal tube feed rate and daily calorie and protein intake. Secondary clinical outcomes included number of ICU, hospital and ventilator days, number of the days in the study, blood-glucose levels, incidence of vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, tube replaced, tube clogged, fever, bacteremia, and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and mortality rate. Results showed that the ND group had a higher average daily calorie and protein intake compared with NG group and achieved nutritional goals earlier. In terms of clinical outcomes, patients in the ND group had a lower rate of vomiting and VAP. The other clinical outcomes such as number of ICU days, hospital days, ventilator days, blood-glucose level, tube replaced or clogged, diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, fever, bacteremia, and mortality rate were not significantly different between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received ND feedings achieved nutritional goals earlier than those who received NG feeding. ND feeding group also has a lower rate of vomiting and VAP in the medical ICU setting.

Severity of illness influences the efficacy of enteral feeding route on clinical outcomes in patients with critical illness.

BACKGROUND: Few trials have studied the influence of illness severity on clinical outcomes of different tube-feeding routes. Whether gastric or postpyloric feeding route is more beneficial to patients receiving enteral nutrition remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To test whether illness severity influences the efficacy of enteral feeding route on clinical outcomes in patients with critical illness. DESIGN: A 2-year prospective, randomized, clinical study was conducted to assess the differences between the nasogastric (NG) and nasoduodenal (ND) tube feedings on clinical outcomes. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: One hundred one medical adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients requiring enteral nutrition were enrolled in this study. INTERVENTION: Patients were randomly assigned to the NG (n=51) or ND (n=50) feeding route during a 21-day study period. Illness severity was dichotomized as "less severe" and "more severe," with the cutoff set at Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score of 20. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily energy and protein intake, feeding complications (eg, gastric retention/vomiting/diarrhea/gastrointestinal bleeding), length of ICU stay, hospital mortality, nitrogen balance, albumin, and prealbumin. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Two-tailed Student t tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze significant differences between variables in the study groups. Multiple regression was used to assess the effects of illness severity and enteral feeding routes on clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Among less severely ill patients, no differences existed between the NG and ND groups in daily energy and protein intake, feeding complications, length of ICU stay, and nitrogen balance. Among more severely ill patients, the NG group experienced lower energy and protein intake, more tube feeding complications, longer ICU stay, and poorer nitrogen balance than the ND group. CONCLUSIONS: To optimize nutritional support and taking medical resources into account, the gastric feeding route is recommended for less severely ill patients and the postpyloric feeding route for more severely ill patients.