Clinical nutrition : official journal of the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized clinical trial to compare the length of hospital stay and morbidity for early feeding with opioid-sparing analgesia versus traditional care after open appendectomy.
Fast track protocols have been successfully used in abdominal surgery but there are no randomized trials on fast track after appendectomy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of fast track perioperative care protocol including early feeding with opioid-sparing analgesia after open appendectomy. ⋯ This study indicates that early feeding and opioid-sparing analgesia after open appendectomy is safe and reduces length of hospital stay without deterioration of pain control.
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Consensus regarding definitions of malnutrition and methods to assess nutritional state is lacking. We propose a definition and its operationalization. ⋯ A definition is proposed that reflects the pathophysiology of malnutrition and that, when operationalized, will lead to measures reflecting this pathophysiology. Such an approach may yield comparable and reproducible rates and degrees of malnutrition in populations as well as in individuals.