Original Article


The impact of perioperative enteral immunonutrition on frequent clinical outcome in patients with digestive system cancer

Wei Zhang, Wenbin Yang, Zhifeng Mo, Feng Nian, Shaomin Huang

Abstract

Background: Forepassed trials have indicated that perioperative enteral immunonutrition can improve the clinical outcome for patients with digestive system cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of perioperative enteral immunonutrition on immunity and postoperative complications in patients with digestive system cancer.
Methods: A group of 64 patients with digestive system cancer was randomly assigned for perioperative enteral immunonutrition (n=32) or standard enteral nutrition (n=32). The postoperative clinical outcome was assessed based on a clinical index, including postoperative complications, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) duration. Also, the postoperative cellular immunity was compared and evaluated between the two groups.
Results: The nutritional therapy of both groups were completed. The occurrence of postoperative infectious complications in the immunonutrition group (6%) was significantly (P=0.020) lower than that of the standard nutrition group (28%). The duration of SIRS in the immunonutrition group (0.77±0.91 days) was significantly shorter than that in the standard nutrition group (1.34±1.46 days) (P=0.012). The postoperative lymphocyte counts and CD4+ T-cells counts significantly declined (P<0.05) in two groups. Nevertheless, the number of CD4+ T-cells on preoperative day 1 and postoperative day 10 was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the immunonutrition group than in the standard nutrition group.
Conclusions: In comparison to standard enteral nutrition, perioperative enteral immunonutrition with glutamine (Gln), ω-3 fatty acids, nucleotide and arginine (Arg) improved the immune status of the patients, reduced the occurrence of postoperative infectious complications and decreased the duration of SIRS. CD4+ T-cells immunity possibly played a vital role in the inflammatory response and the modulation of postoperative immunity after surgery with digestive system cancer.

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