Case study of the clinical usefulness of bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy in evaluating nutritional status.

Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) can be a valuable tool in assessing changes in body composition. Although the validity of BIS in healthy subjects is relatively good, in patients considerably larger measurement errors have been reported. In this article the clinical usefulness of BIS in assessing nutritional status of one case study will be discussed. Interpretation of the predictions of BIS in this unstable patient was difficult. This is in agreement with the consensus that BIS does not give accurate prediction of body composition in individual patients. It is recommended that validation studies of BIS should focus on clinical aspects which can influence BIS measurements.