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The Effect of Intravenous Nutrition in Patients Undergoing Abdominal Surgery

NCT01414946 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 40

Last updated 2011-08-11

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Loss of muscle protein and mass are the main causes of fatigue after bowel surgery which may result in a longer hospital stay and a higher rate of complications. This problem is especially important for patients after surgery for bowel cancer because cancer itself causes a waste of muscle protein. Anesthesiologists can decrease these negative effects of surgery by choosing the type of pain treatment (analgesia) and by giving nutrition (sugar and protein). Our group recently observed that optimal pain relief with epidural catheters (these are placed in the so called epidural space, which lies between the spine and the skin of the back) in combination with a low calorie protein diet intravenously (through the vein) maintains the body's protein stores after bowel surgery.

The goal of our new research program is to find out whether this protein saving effect depends on how protein depleted the patient is before surgery. In other words we would like to answer the question: do cancer patients who show protein wasting before the operation benefit more from feeding than patients who show no signs of protein wasting? A second goal of this program is to find out if we need to use sugar as part of the diet or whether the infusion of protein alone is sufficient. Just giving protein would make feeding not only easier but also would avoid the increase in the patient's own blood sugar during and after the operation, which typically occurs when sugar is given intravenously during that period.

Conditions

  • Postoperative Protein Catabolism

Interventions

OTHER

Intravenous nutrition with glucose and amino acids

Glucose and amino acids intravenously starting 20 hours before the operation until the second postoperative day. Glucose provides 50% and amino acids 20% of each patient's measured resting energy expenditure.

OTHER

Intravenous nutrition with amino acids

Amino acids intravenously starting 20 hours before the operation until the second postoperative day. Amino acids providing 20% of each patient's measured resting energy expenditure.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Thomas Schricker, MD PhD · Department of Anaesthesia, McGill University Health Centre

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2009-11-30
Primary Completion
2011-06-30
Completion
2011-07-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01414946 on ClinicalTrials.gov