[Nutritional management of functional chronic diarrhea associated to malnutrition with peptide diet: a case report].

BACKGROUND

functional bowel disorders are characterized by an absence of structural or biochemical damage, but can lead to chronic diarrhea and intestinal malabsorption. If not properly treated, they predispose to a state of malnutrition that, depending on the underlying pathologies, could affect the evolution of other concomitant diseases.

CASE REPORT

the relevance of this case stems from the fact that our 43-year-old patient, with multiple comorbidities, with progressive weight and muscle mass loss, after five years of inefficiency in the treatment of chronic diarrhea, achieves, on a peptide enteral formula basis, a good nutritional status and quality of life, which finally leads to the control of the chronic diarrhea and malnutrition.

DISCUSSION

in the unintentional weight loss caused by long-term functional diarrhea, the choice of a peptide diet may have a fundamental role for a satisfactory patient's progress.