Parenteral nutrition support in major abdominal trauma patients.

32 out of 111 patients with major abdominal trauma were studied to evaluate the effects of total parenteral nutrition (TPN). There were 24 men and 8 women with average age of 31 years. 25 cases were recorded as blunt trauma. The others had penetrating wounds. An Abdominal Trauma Index (ATI) was used to score the injury severity. 68% (22 32 ) of the patients had a score of more than 15, and 25% (8 32 ) had a score over 25. TPN was carried out in 11 patients with complicated injuries of the pancreas and duodenum, in 15 cases with small bowel fistula secondary to extended intestinal trauma, and in 6 patients with severe intraabdominal abscesses after injury. The TPN mixture contained 32-42 kcal/kg/day of nonprotein energy and 0.21-0.30 g/kg/day of nitrogen. The average period of TPN support was 26 days. No TPN-related complication developed except 2 cases of catheter-related sepsis. The results demonstrated no significant change in body weight during TPN support. Weekly cumulative nitrogen balances were increased significantly after the use of TPN (from 15.5 g/week at the first week to 48.2 g/week at the fourth week, p < 0.01). There were increases in serum albumin, prealbumin, fibronectin and transferrin following TPN support (from 30.6 g/L, 142.8 mg/L, 103.3 mg/L and 1.2 g/L at day 0 to 35.7 g/L, p < 0.01, 256.3 mg/L, p < 0.01, 184.5 mg/L, p < 0.01, and 1.9 g/L, p < 0.05, at day 21 respectively). Blood sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride remained normal. In 4 patients with duodenal fistula and 6 cases with small bowel fistula (n = 15), the fistulae closed spontaneously. There were no deaths during TPN. We conclude that total parenteral nutrition is of value in the treatment of severe abdominal traumatic patients.