Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care
-
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care · Sep 2014
ReviewEarly oral feeding after emergency abdominal operations: another paradigm to be broken?
The scope of this article is to provide an updated review examining the role of early feeding in the postoperative period. ⋯ Early oral intake is possible after elective abdominal surgery and should be moderate and progressive to be well tolerated. Any sign of nausea may mean intestinal or gastric disturbance and is a caution not to pursue this policy. The strategy in emergency abdominal surgery still requires adequately powered, randomized controlled trials.
-
Skeletal muscle and lean body mass may be vital to prognosis and functional recovery in chronic and acute illness, particularly in conditions in which muscle atrophy is prevalent. Ultrasound provides a precise and expedient method to measure muscle mass and changes in skeletal muscle at the bedside. ⋯ Given the precision, practicality, and ease of use, ultrasound is emerging as a highly useful tool in expediently measuring the muscle mass and changes in muscle tissue at the bedside. Ultrasound may be valuable in identifying patients who are at risk of malnutrition, in tracking muscle atrophy for the purpose of calculating nutrient delivery, and in assessing the success or failure of nutrition, pharmacological and rehabilitative interventions that aim to counter muscle atrophy.