Parenteral Nutrition in Surgery

IT SEEMS that no one should question the value of nutrition in the surgical patient. Numerous investigators 1 have proved its importance in the preoperative preparation of the patient who is a poor surgical risk and have stressed its significance during postoperative convalescence. The difficulties of providing adequate nutrition in the surgical patient have been incident to the patient's inability to retain food through the oral route or to the problem of providing nutrition by the intravenous route without at the same time causing other undesirable sequelae. Within the past few years dextrose and amino acids have been shown to be of benefit in providing part of this nutritional deficiency. Many 2 have, however, indicated that if the full caloric requirement could also be met through the parenteral route, the problem of nutrition in the postoperative surgical patient would be nearer solution. The studies of some 3 have illustrated that