Ingestion of glutamine and maltodextrin two hours preoperatively improves insulin sensitivity after surgery: a randomized, double blind, controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate whether the abbreviation of preoperative fasting with a drink containing glutamine and dextrinomaltose improves organic response to surgical trauma.

Methods: Thirty-six female patients adult (18-62 years) candidates for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly divided into three groups: conventional fasting (fasting group), and two groups receiving two different diets, eight hours (400ml) and two hours before induction of anesthesia (200ml): carbohydrate (CHO) group (12.5% dextrinomaltose) and the glutamine (GLN) group (12.5% dextrinomaltose and 40 and 10g of glutamine, respectively). Blood samples were collected pre and postoperatively.

Results: Twenty-eight patients completed the study. No pulmonary complication occurred. Gastric residual volume was similar between groups (p = 0.95). Postoperatively, all patients from the fasting group had abnormal glucose (> 110mg/dl), this abnormality being of 50% when compared to the CHO group (p = 0.14), and of 22.2% when compared to the GLN group (p = 0.01). All patients who had the fasting period shortened (CHO + GLN) had normal postoperative insulin, contrasting with 66.7% in the fasted group (p = 0.02). The abnormal sensitivity to insulin postoperatively rose from 32.1% to 46.4% of cases (p = 0.24), and it occurred in only 11.1% of patients in GLN group when compared to 55.5% in the fasting group (p = 0.02).

Conclusion: the abbreviation of preoperative fasting for two hours with dextrinomaltose and glutamine improves insulin sensitivity in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.