[Medical Q&A] How can home parenteral nutrition support be given without affecting normal life in terms of infusion time?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Yu Jianchun, Chief Physician and Professor of Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Home parenteral nutrition support brings good news to patients who cannot meet their nutritional needs through the digestive system. Many people may wonder: Parenteral nutrition is in the form of intravenous infusion, and it may take a long time to infuse every day. Will it affect normal life? In fact, scientific management of parenteral nutrition under the guidance of a doctor can achieve normal life.

In terms of infusion time, there are two ways of parenteral nutrition: continuous infusion and cyclic infusion. Continuous infusion is to continuously and evenly infuse the nutrient solution needed by the patient for one day into the body within 24 hours. This method has less impact on the internal environment of the body, the patient's insulin secretion level will be relatively stable, and the blood sugar fluctuation will be smaller. It is suitable for patients in the early stage of parenteral nutrition. At this stage, most patients are in a state of hypermetabolism and need to be continuously supplemented with nutrition. Patients who need parenteral nutrition support at home generally have received a long period of continuous infusion of nutrient solution during hospitalization, and their condition is relatively stable. The infusion time can be shortened from 24 hours to 12 to 18 hours. In this way, a period of no infusion can be vacated. The infusion of nutrient solution is chosen at night, and the time can be controlled within 12 hours. The infusion starts before going to bed, and the liquid can be basically infused after waking up. Circulating infusion can use an infusion pump to control the infusion speed. Once a fault occurs during the infusion or the liquid infusion is completed, the instrument will automatically alarm to ensure the safety of nighttime infusion. It should be noted that patients who receive home parenteral nutrition support through circulatory infusion should closely monitor blood sugar changes to avoid excessive blood sugar fluctuations that may have adverse effects on the body and to prevent severe hypoglycemia during the period without nutrient solution infusion.