Hypo-Calories with Micronutrients and Fat Emulsion of Pre-Operative Peripheral Parenteral Nutrition in Malnutrition Risk Rectal Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Malnutrition has been recognized as a significant risk factor for the post operated patients, especially for those patients undergoing abdominal operations. This study evaluated the effect of hypo-calories with micronutrients of pre-operative peripheral parenteral nutrition support (PPPN) for rectal cancer patients. Retrospective cross sectional study method was used to investigate. We screened rectal cancer patients past year pre-operative with malnutrition risk from our cancer database and divided into 2 groups, received or not received PPPN and compared the post-operative outcomes. The results showed that the post-operative serum albumin of the 25 patients received PPPN averaged 2.5 ± 0.32 g/dl; significantly better than those of the 15 patients not received PPPN (non-PPPN), which averaged 1.92 ± 0.42 g/dl. The first ambulatory time required 3.0 ± 0.8 days for the PPPN, significantly shorter than those for the non-PPPN, which averaged 4.9 ± 2.4 days. Post-operative hospital days for the patients received PPPN were 18.2 ± 10.5 day, also significantly fewer than the non-PPPN, which averaged 33.7 ± 20.0 day. More than 25% of the non-PPPN was infected with sepsis, while none was infected in the PPPN patients. In conclusion, this study verified the benefits of micronutrients of pre-operative peripheral parenteral nutrition support for rectal cancer patients.