[Medical Q&A] How does parenteral nutrition sustain life?

Planner: Chinese Medical Association

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

The digestion and absorption of nutrients are inseparable from the human digestive system. However, if there is a problem with the digestive system, the nutrients in the food cannot be absorbed by the human body through the digestive system. How can humans maintain life? Parenteral nutrition solves this problem through scientific means.

As people deepen their research on nutrition, they are increasingly aware of the necessity of nutritional support, especially for patients with gastrointestinal failure or severe disorders. The emergence of parenteral nutrition is like a life-saving straw, which has prolonged the lives of countless people. Parenteral nutrition is to provide the required nutrients (nutritional preparations are different from ordinary intravenous infusions) directly to the patient's body through the intravenous route (non-gastrointestinal route), including carbohydrates, fat emulsions, essential and non-essential amino acids, vitamins, water and electrolytes and trace elements. The purpose is to enable patients to maintain their nutritional status, increase weight and promote wound healing when they cannot eat normally. This method bypasses the human digestive system and brings good news to patients who cannot absorb nutrition through the gastrointestinal tract. It can effectively treat critically ill patients with surgery, trauma, burns, gastrointestinal dysfunction or failure, and it also plays an increasingly important role in the treatment of many difficult diseases such as tumors, chronic diseases, and geriatric comorbidities. Doctors will develop personalized parenteral nutrition plans based on the patient's specific conditions, and regularly monitor the patient's blood indicators (such as blood sugar, electrolytes, liver function, etc.) to adjust the nutritional treatment plan in a timely manner to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of nutritional support and improve the patient's quality of life and survival rate.