ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effects of postoperative immune-enhancing enteral nutrition (IEEN)on the liver function and postoperative infectious complications after hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods Between January 2010 and December 2011,96 patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma were randomized in a double-blind manner to receive postoperative enteral nutrition with IEEN (IEEN group,n =48) or standard enteral nutrition (control group,n =48) for 5 days,respectively.Calorie and nitrogen of the same quantity were provided for both groups from the first day after surgery.The liver function tests and routine blood tests were performed.The postoperative hospital stay and postoperative infectious complications were also compared between these two groups.Results The serum albumin,prealbumin,alanine aminotransferase,and total bilirubin levels had no significant differences between the two groups (all P ＞ 0.05).On the 6th day after operation,the level of total lymphocyte count was significantly higher in the IEEN group than that in the control group [(2106 ± 1057) vs.(1648 ± 1079) / μL,P =0.038).The postoperative hospital stay was (10.3 ±5.6) days in the IEEN group and (13.4 ±6.7) days in the control group (P =0.016).Postoperative infectious complications were observed in 8 (16.7％) patients in the IEEN group and 17 (35.4％) patients in the control group (P =0.036).Conclusion Early postoperative IEEN can improve the clinical outcomes of liver cancer patients after hepatectomy.