[Incidence of malnutrition in surgical departments of the Reina Sofía Hospital of Córdoba]. / Incidencia de la desnutrición en los servicios quirúrgicos del Hospital Reina Sofía de Córdoba.

We conducted a prospective study of the incidence of malnutrition in the surgical departments of the Reina Sofia University Hospital, on a total of 329 patients at the time of admittance (154 women and 175 men). As was denounced by Bristian more than 20 years ago, more than 50% of the patients presented some form of malnutrition. There are a series of factors, detected by the Chi2 test, which are as divers as sex, marital status, level of education, profession, smoker or chronic medication user, which are of influence on the nutritional status of the patients. The type of malnutrition is conditioned by the marital status, the job situation, the nature of the pathology, or the use of tobacco. Malnutrition still exists in developed countries, induced by many factors, and it is often found in the hospitals, which is even worse.

[Hypocaloric peripheral parenteral nutrition]. / Nutrición parenteral periférica hipocalórica.

We carried out a prospective study of a group of 84 patients entering the Digestive Surgery Service for surgery, dividing them at random into two groups, one fed with peripheral parenteral nutrition (PPN) and the other with conventional serum therapy during the period of post-operative fasting. The aim of this study was to see whether PNN can provide significant benefits from a nutritional stand-point in comparison with the traditional serum treatment used until now. We appraised the nutritional state immediately prior to the operation, at the time of hospital admission, and compared it with that one week following the operation. We found improvements in the PNN group. The deterioration following surgery occurred in the two groups in significant form, although less in patients treated with PNN, in whom there was no variation in the nutritional state on admission and one week following surgery, while such a variation did occur in those undergoing serum therapy. PNN is a good option where the digestive pipe cannot be used as nutrient input, for a period of time which is not prolonged, but different solutions must continue to be examined which provide a greater nutritional substrate that that used by us.

[Nutritional status of patients undergoing digestive surgery]. / Estado nutricional de los pacientes de cirugía digestiva.

A retrospective study of 102 patients, analysing the incidence of malnutrition, was done in the Digestive Surgery Department of the Queen Sophia University Hospital, Cordoba. Patients were subjected to a protocol of nutritional evaluation to find out their nutritional condition and type and degree of malnutrition. The high incidence of malnutrition sufferers (> 80%) at the time of hospital admission was confirmed, being more noticeable in neoplastic patients.

[Complications of TPN in gastrointestinal surgery patients]. / Complicaciones de la NPT en pacientes sometidos a cirugía gastrointestinal.

Retrospective study of a group of 77 patients subjected to gastrointestinal surgery, who received total parenteral nutrition (TPN) during the postoperative period, During the evolution of the nutrition, 76 cases with technical complications arose, one case of sepsis, 10 cases of metabolic complications and one patient with haematological complications (acute medular failure). Although a higher percentage of metabolic and haematological alterations not requiring medical or surgical treatment for correction was observed, these were indicative of the tendencies of the metabolic and haematological states of the patients. An analysis was also made of the variance, observing a direct relationship between the components of TPN and the variations of the metabolic and haematological values studied, However, these values did not correlate with the number of days during which the patients was on nutrition, and thus the technique and guidelines for administration are the most important factors which determine the presence or absence of complications during TPN.