[Postoperative infusion therapy - peripheral parenteral feeding and carbohydrate administration]

Abstract

A randomised clinical trial was undertaken to compare different peripheral infusion regimens with regard to nitrogen balance and alpha-amino nitrogen excretion. 55 moderately catabolic patients undergoing vaginal hysterectomy received either a parenteral nutrition regimen consisting of 0,6 g amino acid and 4,0 g carbohydrate/kg BW/day or isocaloric amounts of carbohydrate (5,0 g/kg BW/day) alone. Water and electrolytes were administered identically in both groups. Amino acid substitution resulted in a significant improvement in nitrogen balance. In contrast to the results of other investigators nitrogen retention was found to be higher on the day of the operation than on the first postoperative day. Measuring the alpha-amino nitrogen content in urine it could be demonstrated that about 1.5% of the administered amino acid dose was not metabolised.