Preoperative enteral immunonutrition in patients with gastrointestinal cancer / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effect of preoperative immunonutrition on nutritional status and immunity for the patients with gastrointestinal cancer, and to evaluate whether the administration of immunonutrition could reduce the rate of postoperative complication and thus shorten the days of postoperative hospitalization. Methods Sixty patients with different gastrointestinal cancer were randomized to receive either immunonutrition (containing Arginine, RNA and ?-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) for 7 days before surgery (EN, n=30) or a conventional diet (CONT, n=30). Variables of nutritional status and immunity, postoperative complications, infection and the days of postoperative hospitalization were measured. Results There were no significant differences in the immunological and nutritional variables between two groups before surgery. The serum concentrations of prealbumin(PALB) and transferrin(TRF) were lower than those before surgery in the CONT group on postoperative day 3 (P