Background Colorectal cancer incidence has increased year by year, and surgery is the main treatment. Postoperative intravenous nutritional support is conducive to early recovery in patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose To assess postoperative nutritional status of colorectal cancer patients receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) with different doses of compound amino acids. Amino acids in intravenous nutrition play an important role in maintaining nitrogen balance and promoting protein synthesis. Therefore, appropriate doses of amino acids after surgery are very important for colorectal cancer patients, and this is worthy of the attention of clinical pharmacists.

Material and methods Clinical data for 102 colorectal cancer patients undergoing surgical treatment and receiving postoperative TPN in our hospital from October 2015 to March 2016 were retrospective reviewed by oncology clinical pharmacists. The daily doses of compound amino acids for TPN were 25 g/250 mL (group A), 50 g/500mL (group B) and 75 g/750 mL (group C). The relationship between nutritional indexes after operation and different doses of compound amino acids was analysed.

Results 102 patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 74 had rectal cancer (72.5%) and 28 had colon cancer (27.5%). There were 70 men and 32 women with an average age of 58.5±10.6 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 22.2±3.0. There were no significant differences in sex, age, BMI index and duration of TPN use in the three groups (p>0.05). Compared with preoperative levels, after TPN treatment for 3 days, albumin and prealbumin concentrations in group B were significantly improved compared with group A (p<0.05; p<0.05). In addition, compared with group A, concentrations of total protein, albumin and prealbumin in group C had significantly improved (p<0.05; p<0.05; p<0.01). Moreover, after TPN treatment for 5 days, albumin, prealbumin and total protein concentrations in group C were significantly improved compared with group B (p<0.05; p<0.05; p<0.05).

Conclusion The dose of compound amino acids in TPN has a great impact on recovery of postoperative nutritional indexes in patients with colorectal carcinoma. A dose of no less than 500 mL/day is recommended.

No conflict of interest