: Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is a life-saving treatment for patients affected by chronic intestinal failure (CIF). Both this clinical condition and its therapy require radical lifestyle modifications, affecting life quality and psychological balance in patients as well as family members. Patient psychological burden has rarely been taken into consideration, not to mention that of caregivers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Partial enteral nutrition (PEN) is a well-established treatment for children with Crohn's disease (CD). However, its efficacy in adults with CD remains uncertain. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of PEN as an add-on to escalated biological therapy in adults with CD who have lost response to biologics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Increased resting energy expenditure (REE) has been hypothesized to be a potential cause of weight loss in individuals with Crohn's disease (CD). This study aimed to develop and validate new predictive equations for estimating REE in adults with CD.
Methods: Adults, ages 18-65 years, with CD were recruited.
Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease frequently associated with malabsorption and secondary protein-energy malnutrition (PEM).
Methods: Biochemical and clinical data of 63 (34 females, 29 males) patients with PEM due to CD sent to our outpatient unit for nutritional evaluation were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups, according to disease activity.
Patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS) on long-term home parenteral nutrition (HPN) chronically receive high fluid volumes directly into the right atrium (RA) through the superior vena cava. We retrospectively evaluated cardiac function measured by routine transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in a population of 26 SBS patients on long-term HPN and compared their data on echocardiograph-derived right heart structure and function, with those of a control group of 26 patients also bearing a central venous catheter (CVC) for other reasons. Results showed that body weight and BMI were significantly higher in the control group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: The assessment of body composition (BC) can be used to identify malnutrition in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutritional status of CD patients by assessing BC, phase angle (PhA) and muscle strength. Differences in disease duration and medications were also considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Septic pulmonary embolism (SPE) may be a frequently undetected complication of central venous catheter (CVC)-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs).
Materials And Methods: The incidence of SPE was evaluated in a cohort of non-oncological patients on home parenteral nutrition (HPN) who were hospitalized for a CRBSI from January 2013 to December 2017. The main clinical, microbiological, and radiological features and the therapeutic approach were also described.
Background And Aims: The study compares the essential amino acid (EAA) composition of different parenteral nutrition (PN) mixtures with whey protein EAA profile and the theoretical daily EAA requirements (set by WHO/FAO/UNU or IAAO method). According to the individual EAA profile, the potential effect of several PN mixtures was evaluated on the skeletal muscle mass (SMM) of patients on home PN.
Methods: Eight AA solutions and fifteen complete PN mixtures were considered.
Background: Total gastrectomy (TG) is responsible for symptoms or disturbance of alimentary status (changes in body weight, food intake per meal and frequency of meal per day) which, in turn are responsible for weight loss and malnutrition. The study evaluates the gut hormone responses in totally gastrectomized (TG) patients after a liquid meal test.
Methods: Twenty total gastrectomized cancer-free patients (12 M, 8 F, 56.
Background: The prevalence of central venous catheter (CVC)-related blood-stream infections (CRBSI), infecting agents and the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy were evaluated in 172 adult patients on Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) at the Clinical Nutrition Outpatient Unit of Federico II University Hospital in Naples, Italy.
Materials And Methods: The study population consisted of 127 oncological (74%) and 45 (26%) non-oncological patients, for a total of 53,818 (median 104; range 14-1080) CVC days.
Results: Ninety-four CRBSIs were diagnosed on 238 CVC (infection rate 1.
Background & Aims: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic intestinal disorder of unknown etiology involving any section of the gastrointestinal tract often associated with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). Increased resting energy expenditure (REE) unmatched by adequate dietary intake is amongst the pathogenetic mechanisms proposed for PEM. Aim of this study was to evaluate REE in CD patients receiving or not immuno-suppressive therapy as compared to controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The growing prevalence of severe obesity, combined with the failure of conservative treatments, has led to a significant spread of bariatric surgical procedures. The aim of this study was to emphasize the need of adequate presurgery patient selection and close follow-up after malabsorptive procedures for bariatric surgery.
Methods: The study retrospectively evaluated 25 (20 F, 5 M; mean age 43 ± 13 y) obese patients (mean weight before intervention 134 ± 30.
Background: Catheter-related bloodstream infections are a serious and common complication in patients receiving home parenteral nutrition (HPN).
Methods: Prevalence of infections, type of agents, and effectiveness of antibiotic therapy were evaluated in 296 patients (133 males, 163 females; mean age 58.2 +/- 13.
Oeosinophilic gastroenteritis is a chronic and rare disorder characterised by massive oeosinophilic tissue infiltration involving one or more segments of the digestive tract. The management of patients with oeosinophilic gastroenteritis is complex and the therapeutic response often poor. Here we discuss the clinical case and management of a 23-year-old man with oeosinophilic gastroenteritis since the first year of life and the decision to prescribe lifelong total parenteral nutrition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Obesity is a chronic complex disease, consequence of an unbalance between energy intake and expenditure and of the interaction between predisposing genotype and facilitating environmental factors. The aim of the study was to evaluate body composition, abdominal fat, and metabolic changes in a group of severely obese patients before and after laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP) at standardized (10% and 25%) total weight loss.
Methods: Twenty-eight patients (14 M, 14 F; age 41.
Bioelectrical impedance-derived phase angle is a potentially sensible indicator of protein-energy malnutrition and of fat-free mass loss, frequent in patients with advanced cancer. We evaluated in 13 patients with advanced cancer some biochemical (serum albumin, lymphocyte count, cholesterol, cholinesterase) and clinical (Karnofsky index, Subjective Global Assessment, dietary inquiry) parameters and bioelectrical impedance analysis was performed. In addition to albumin, cholinesterase, and the Karnofsky index, phase angle (R(2)=0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlasma citrulline is known to be a marker of absorptive enterocyte mass in humans. We evaluated whether citrulline and other blood amino acids are indicators of residual small intestinal length and therefore potential predictors of dependence on parenteral nutrition in the long term. We studied 25 patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS) after at least 18 months since last digestive circuit modification; 24 of them were again evaluated 1 year later.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bariatric surgery is considered the most effective treatment for reducing excess body weight and maintaining weight loss (WL) in severely obese patients. There are limited data evaluating metabolic and body composition changes after different treatments in type III obese (body mass index [BMI] > 40 kg/m(2)).
Methods: Twenty patients (9 males, 11 females; 37.
Objective: We worked to identify predictors of survival in patients with carcinomatosis on home parenteral nutrition (HPN).
Methods: Survival rate was evaluated in 152 terminal patients (45 men and 107 women) with peritoneal carcinosis on HPN. Selected anthropometric measurements (weight and body mass index), laboratory tests (serum albumin, cholesterol, cholinesterase [CHE], hemoglobin, and lymphocyte count) and clinical variables (ascites, pain, and vomiting) were recorded at baseline.
Catheter-related sepsis is a serious and common complication in patients receiving home parenteral nutrition (HPN). Prevention measures, prevalence of infections, types of agents and implanted central venous catheters (CVC), effectiveness of antibiotic therapy have been evaluated in 221 patients consecutively followed in our unit from January 1995 to December 2000. The clinical diagnosis of catheter-related infection was made using well-defined criteria.
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