Parental Nutrition In ICU Is A Safe Therapy To Go With

Parenteral nutrition is the method where a person who can not eat and digest normally anymore, is being fed intravenously. The nutritional formula that include certain nutrients like amino acid, glucose, dietary minerals, lipids and vitamins is being received by the person.

There are two types of parenteral nutrition. One is total parenteral nutrition and the other one known as peripheral nutrition. Total parenteral nutrition is being applied when there no other way is left to obtain nutrition. Peripheral nutrition is the process that eases the access in the limb. Parenteral nutrition has become very much familiar to people as it can sustain fat-free mass in those patients who are experiencing crucial situations like chronic diseases, sarcopenic, ageing, obesity and pre-existing undemutrition that can be resulted into increased muscle catabolism and hyperglycaemia.

Steps to use of parenteral nutrition in ICU:

There are few steps to use of parenteral nutrition in ICU. Generally doctors recommend the parenteral nutrition without specific indication for the first forty eight hours. At first the medical team take the option of feeding route in the patient admitted in ICU. The clinical outcome may get worsened if enteral nutrition all alone is being linked with inadequate coverage of energy requirements. After that the patient is being recommended to experience certain method like third lumber vertebra-targeted computerised tomography, tigh bioimpedance electrical analysis, thigh ultra-sound imaging in order to keep the track of fat free-mass during ICU days for obvious reasons. Then the nutrition administration is being advised within the four days after the patient got admitted. This is how the fat-free mass loss gets reduced and clinical outcomes get improved. Medical researchers have already given some demonstration of controlled trials if there any complication arises while feeding the patients intravenously.

Things to be avoided:

Make sure that glycaemia of the patient must be controlled and the ovemutrition must be avoid while using parenteral nutrition in order to make the process cautious. 

Supplemental parenteral nutrition:

Supplemental parenteral nutrition is being advised in most of the cases in order to improve the nutritional status as well as the energy provision. Supplemental nutrition is the combination of enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition that eases the calorie delivery and boosts the energy during illness. It also reduces the chances of side effects that may take place because of enteral nutrition. Enteral nutrition aims to combat with sixty percent of energy target and diarrhoea where as the supplemental nutrition cures the whole problem fast. 

Overfeeding is strictly restricted:

Make sure the patient must not be overfed in the name of parenteral nutrition. Overfeeding does not help in increasing the energy level and combating with the diseases. On the contrary it triggers the risk of various infections and metabolic disorders. It also causes liver dysfunction.

On the other hand, if enteral nutrition and parenteral nutirition get combined in a perfect manner, it may balance the control of glycaemia. It also decrease the needs of insulin and reduce the risk of hyperglycaemia. Therefore this sequential approach must be considered and the supplementary parental nutrition should be applied in order to reach the energy target, to avoid the risk of infection and overfeeding. However, it can be said easily that parenteral nutrition is a safe therapy in ICU as long as overfeeding is avoided. It is not only being proved as a safe therapy but also as an affordable therapy. Therefore, it has become very much popular in clinical studies.