The optimalisation of the health status of patients scheduled for major surgery has been considered to be the most important point of perioperative care, and nutritional intervention has been perceived a key point of that intervention. Immunomodulating diets were thought to reduce cmplications, hoever recent studies put that opnion in doubt. This study was designed to assess the actual clinical significance of oral immunonutrition.
The optimalisation of the health status of patients scheduled for major surgery has been considered to be the most important point of perioperative care, and nutritional intervention has been perceived a key point of that intervention. Italian studies followed by metanalyses demonstrated the superiority of immunomodulating diets (IM) over any other preoperative nutrition, hence the surgical guidelines for enteral nutrition published by European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) in 2006 recommended to use IM for 7-14 days preoperatively in all patients undergoing major surgeries. Some authors questioned IM by showing no benefit of IM over standard enteral nutrition. Other authors observed similar results.The debate was far from being over - in 2015 a new metanalysis stated that perioperative enteral nutrition is the best option for managing clinical status of patients who underwent selective surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. One year later, ESPEN changed its surgical recommendations and advised to use IM preoperatively in malnourished and perioperatively in well-nourished patients. American recommendations remained unchanged and, according to them, it is advised to use IM preoperatively in all surgical patients, however, high-protein nutrition could also be an beneficial option. To address those doubts and to assess the actual clinical significance of oral immunonutrition, a randomized, two center, prospective clinical trial was conducted.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
300
diet with immunonutrients
Oral nutrition with high-protein content
Oral nutrition with standard ingredients
Narodowy Instytut Onkologii
Krakow, Malopolska, Poland
Stanley Dudrick's Memorial Hospital
Skawina, Malopolska, Poland
Surgical complications
Number and type of surgical complications
Time frame: 6 months
Infectious complications
Number and type of infectious complications
Time frame: 6 months
Length of stay
Days of hospital stay after the operation
Time frame: 6 months
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