ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We sought to estimate the incidence of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) use in a population-based cohort of patients with Crohn disease (CD), and to assess clinical outcomes and complications associated with HPN. METHODS: We used the Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) to identify residents of Olmsted County, who were diagnosed with CD between 1970 and 2011, and required HPN. RESULTS: Fourteen out of 429 patients (3.3%) with CD received HPN (86% female). Eleven patients (79%) had moderate-severe CD and 12 patients (86%) had fistulizing disease. Thirteen patients (93%) underwent surgery, primarily due to obstruction. Among CD incidence cases, the cumulative incidence of HPN from the date of CD diagnosis was 0% at 1 year, 0.5% at 5 years, 0.8% at 10 years, and 2.4% at 20 years. Indications for HPN included short bowel syndrome in 64%, malnutrition in 29%, and bowel rest in 21%. The median duration of HPN was 2.5 years. There was an average weight gain of 1.2 kg at 6 months, an average weight loss of 1.4 kg at 1 year, and a further weight loss of 2.2 kg at 2 years from the start of HPN. Patients were hospitalized a mean of 5 times after the start of HPN, mainly due to catheter-related bloodstream infections and thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: Less than 4% of patients with CD need HPN. Most have moderate to severe disease with short bowel syndrome or malnutrition. Possible reasons for the patients' weight loss could be noncompliance, and increased metabolic needs because of active disease.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Ethanol lock therapy (ELT) has been shown to reduce the rate of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) in high-risk home parenteral nutrition (HPN) patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether ELT therapy for all patients newly started on HPN would reduce the incidence of CRBSI. METHODS: This study was a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial that was carried out from July 2014 to April 2016. The study participants were patients newly started on HPN, and they were randomly assigned to either treatment with ELT or our current standard of care with saline heparin locks. The primary outcome was occurrence of CRBSI. RESULTS: Thirty eight patients that were newly started on HPN were randomized to either treatment with ELT (n = 18) or to our current standard of care with heparin locks (n = 20). Four patients in the ELT group and one patient in the control arm had a CRBSI (p = 0.17). No significant adverse side effects were noted during the study. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not show improvement in the rate of CRBSI with ELT in all patients started on HPN. ELT therapy may be most helpful to reduce in CRBSI in high-risk HPN patients, but further studies with a randomized control trial design of high-risk patients are needed to further clarify this important issue in HPN patients. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov prior to patient enrollment (NCT02227329).
