View clinical trials related to Refeeding Syndrome.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a nutritional strategy is effective in critically ill patients with cancer diagnosed with refeeding syndrome.
The main objective of this observational survey was to determine the incidence rate of refeeding phenomena (RFF) (defined as any decline in p-phosphate) and RFS (defined as any decline in p-phosphate with additional development of any of the following clinical symptoms: oedema, confusion, dyspnoea, hypotension, arrhythmia, seizures) among recently admitted or referred HNC patients to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology for surgery. The second objective was to determine if informations at admittance could identify HNC patients at high risk of developing RFF and RFS.
The study is based on a master thesis which showed that 72% of patients with head and neck cancer admitted to a Danish hospital (Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen) developed refeeding syndrome after admission. Refeeding syndrome is characterized by a decrease in plasma phosphate levels, which develops after the reintroduction of an adequate food intake after a longer period of starvation or semi-starvation. This normally happens within 7 days after reintroduction of food. The aim of this study is to minimize the incidence of refeeding syndrome in this group of patients by reintroducing food slowly and by providing a diet low in sodium and high in slowly absorbed carbohydrates as a prevention diet (i.e. given before a potential decrease in plasma phosphate levels appear). Both patients that eat normally, patients with eating tubes and patients with central vein catheters are included in the study, but the data will be evaluated both together and separately.
Background and study hypothesis: Refeeding syndrome is a dangerous condition which could arise if patients who have had little or no food for many days, are started on any form of feeding. The metabolic consequences of this condition could affect the heart, lungs and nervous system of the patient and cause serious imbalance in the level of salts in the body. The available guidelines for predicting that refeeding syndrome may occur are very subjective since they depend mainly on a history which is sometimes difficult to obtain from the patient. The main biochemical landmark that refeeding syndrome has occurred is a fall in the phosphate levels once feeding has been started. There are currently no biochemical markers that can identify patients at risk of developing refeeding syndrome. Leptin and IGF1 are hormones which have been observed to go down if someone has had little or no food for a while. The investigators therefore hypothesized that using a combination of leptin and IGF1 values in a 'Refeeding Index' would make the latter a useful biochemical marker to predict that refeeding may occur, hence take the precautionary measures to avoid its occurrence before starting feeding. Design: Thirty five consecutive patients referred for commencement of parenteral nutrition (PN) were included. Serum leptin and IGF1 were measured prior to starting PN. Electrolytes, liver and renal function tests were measured before and daily for one week after initiating PN. The primary outcome was a decrease in phosphate on day two or three after initiating PN. A 'Refeeding Index' (RI) was defined as leptin x IGF1 divided by 2800 to produce a ratio of 1.0 in patients who are well nourished.