Nutrition Interventions Before and After Adult Intestinal Transplantation : The Pittsburgh Experience

INTRODUCTION The care of patients with intestinal failure is complex and requires a number of therapies delivered by a multidisciplinary team. Many of these patients are managed long-term on parenteral nutrition (PN) and remain free of complications, with a reasonable quality of life. Others are candidates for intestinal rehabilitation procedures designed to restore nutritional autonomy through the use of surgical reconstruction, modified diet, specialized nutrients such as standard medications, glutamine and growth factors. However, for those patients with irreversible intestinal and PN failure, intestinal and multivisceral transplantation is the only lifesaving therapeutic option. Over the last two decades, survival has improved as the management strategies and care of these patients has evolved (1). NUTRITION ISSUES IN GASTROENTEROLOGY, SERIES #89