Enteral nutrition in malnutrition following gastric resection and cephalic pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Nutritional recovery was studied during continuous enteral nutrition in 29 patients who had developed malnutrition after gastric surgery. Patients were divided into three groups according to the type of surgery involved: total gastrectomy (n = 10), partial gastrectomy (n = 12), or cephalic pancreaticoduodenectomy (n = 7). The evolution of anthropometric and biological nutritional parameters in each group was compared with that observed in a control group of 10 nonoperated anorectic patients. Significant gains in body weight, arm muscle circumference, triceps skinfold, serum transferrin and global nutritional status were observed after 3 to 4 weeks of enteral nutrition in each group, while serum albumin, serum cholesterol, hemoglobin, and total lymphocyte count did not change significantly. No significant difference was observed between the groups. However, weight gain tended to be slower in patients with cephalic pancreaticoduodenectomy. This study confirms that enteral nutrition is an effective method of nutritional repletion after gastrectomy. Enteral nutrition can be used in undernourished gastrectomized patients when dietary measures alone have proven inadequate.