Objective: To investigate the efficacy of early enteral nutrition (EN) in patients after liver transplantation.
Methods: Fifty-five patients were given EN (27 cases, EN group) or parenteral nutrition (28 cases, PN group) support within 48 h after liver transplantation. The laboraotory parameters that included albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PA), lymphocyte count (LC), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBIL), and direct bilirubin (DBIL) on postoperative day (POD) 1 and 9, the infection rate during 2 weeks after transplantation, mechanical ventilation time, and length of ICU and postoperative hospital stay between the two groups were compared.
Results: The differences in all the laboratory parametes between the two groups showed no statistical significance on POD 1 (all P>0.05), while on POD 9, the levels of ALB, PA and LC in EN group were significantly higher than those in PN group (all P<0.05), and the levels of ALT, AST, TBIL and DBIL between the two groups showed no statistical difference (all P>0.05), but were all decreased compared with their values on POD 1. The incidence of infection within 2 weeks post-transplantation in EN group was significantly lower than that in PN group (P<0.05). The mechanical ventilation time and length of ICU stay between the two groups had no statistical difference (both P>0.05), but the length of postoperative hospital stay in EN group was significantly reduced compared with PN group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: In patients undergoing liver transplantation, early application of EN support can effectively improve their nutritional status and immune function, as well as reduce the chance of infection and promote postoperative recovery.