A Comparison of Postoperative Early Enteral Nutrition with Delayed Enteral Nutrition in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Nutrients

Gongchao Wang¹  Hongbo Chen¹  Jun Liu¹  Yongchen Ma² 

[1] School of Nursing, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua West Road, Jinan 250012, China; E-Mails:;School of Medicine, Shandong University, 44 Wenhua West Road, Jinan 250012, China; E-Mail:

关键词: early enteral nutrition;    delayed enteral nutrition;    esophageal cancer;    postoperative complication;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu7064308

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We examined esophageal cancer patients who received enteral nutrition (EN) to evaluate the validity of early EN compared to delayed EN, and to determine the appropriate time to start EN. A total of 208 esophagectomy patients who received EN postoperatively were divided into three groups (Group 1, 2 and 3) based on whether they received EN within 48 h, 48 h–72 h or more than 72 h, respectively. The postoperative complications, length of hospital stay (LOH), days for first fecal passage, cost of hospitalization, and the difference in serum albumin values between pre-operation and post-operation were all recorded. The statistical analyses were performed using the t-test, the Mann-Whitney U test and the chi square test. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. Group 1 had the lowest thoracic drainage volume, the earliest first fecal passage, and the lowest LOH and hospitalization expenses of the three groups. The incidence of pneumonia was by far the highest in Group 3 (p = 0.019). Finally, all the postoperative outcomes of nutritional conditions were the worst by a significant margin in Group 3. It is therefore safe and valid to start early enteral nutrition within 48 h for postoperative esophageal cancer patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.