Improving surgical outcomes in pancreatic surgery with preoperative nutrition.

The purposes of this study were (1) to describe the relationship between preoperative physical status and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing Whipple resection, and (2) to determine if the use of specialized immunonutrition with IMPACT Advanced Recovery supplementation improved postoperative outcomes (pancreatic leak rate, length of stay, and postoperative complications) in patients undergoing Whipple resection. The trial was a case-controlled prospective pilot study that took place in an outpatient gastrointestinal surgical oncology office in an urban community hospital in the northeast United States. The study population consisted of nine patients undergoing Whipple surgery.