Abstract
Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) presumably benefits cancer patients although reports have disputed the significance of this nutritional intervention. We sought to compare the postoperative outcomes of ovarian cancer patients treated with either TPN or conservative management. We retrospectively evaluated the impact of TPN and conservative management in ovarian cancer patients who underwent debulking surgery and a bowel resection. The primary study variables encompassed patient time until restoration of bowel function, number of postoperative complications and duration of hospital stay. There were 147 subjects who were selected for this study. The patients who were treated with TPN (n=69) demonstrated a longer time until restoration of bowel function (5.77 vs. 4.70days; P<0.001), experienced lower pre-operative albumin levels (2.22 vs. 2.97g/dL; P<0.001) and endured a significantly longer hospital stay (11.46 vs. 7.14days; P<0.001) compared to the conservative management (n=78) cohort. Postoperative TPN in ovarian cancer patients may be inadvisable because of the increased risk for complications. Moreover, in the hypoalbuminemic patients, TPN may have not only delayed their postoperative recovery and increased hospital stay duration, but further precipitated the manifestation of nosocomial sequelae.
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