Effects of a Nutrition Support Team with Parenteral Nutrition on Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Who Underwent Surgery

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cancer patients are frequently malnourished, and malnutrition can increase morbidity and mortality. Postoperative malnutrition can cause poor wound healing and failure of the immune response. Administration of parenteral nutrition (PN) after surgery may decrease complication and hospital length of stay. Intervention of a Nutrition Support Team (NST) improves patient outcomes through nutritional assessment and proper nutrition support. In this study we investigated effects of NST intervention with PN on gastrointestinal cancer patients who underwent surgery. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from 2012 January to 2013 December. This study reviewed gastrointestinal cancer patients who were administered PN for more than seven days. The patients were divided into two groups: NST group versus non-NST group. RESULTS: In this study, 53 patients with malnutrition were administered PN for more than seven days. Nutrition support between the NST group and non-NST group was not statistically significant, except multivitamin and trace element. Changes in nutritional index were not statistically significant. No difference in incidence of complication, monitoring performance rate was observed between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Due to a small number of patients and lack of severity of disease in this study, no significant difference in improvement of nutritional index was observed between the NST group and non-NST group. For safe and effective PN, conduct of additional study is necessary in order to determine the effects of NST.