Nutritional support of infants with intestinal failure: something more than fishy is going on here!

BACKGROUND: This review will highlight recent advances in the care of infants with Intestinal Failure, focusing on the benefits of a multi-disciplinary team and the types of nutrition used.

METHODS: Recent best "practices" from the literature are described, including strategies for promoting intestinal adaptation, the use of lipid sparing Parenteral Nutrition (PN) and the effects of the associated high glucose infusion rates. Special emphasis will be placed on lipid minimization and specialized lipid emulsions including fish oil, and blended lipid sources such as SMOF. Enteral nutritional therapy will be reviewed, including the rationale for the use of expressed breast milk or elemental formula in preference to partial milk hydrolysates. The utility and indications for the use of formula additives and the use of nutritional supplements and the timing and rate of advancement of feeds, and the optimal strategy for preserving oral feeding skills will be reviewed. Treatments to optimize intestinal adaptation such as the use of dietary supplements including vegetable oils, fat emulsions and medium-chain triglycerides will be discussed. Feeding strategies will be described. The rationale and effects of using rotating antibiotics to treat small intestinal bacterial overgrowth will be reviewed.

RESULTS: The long-term consequences and complications of the different types of nutritional therapy will be examined, with a focus on growth and development. The potential and described effects of established and novel lipid therapies on neurological development will be reviewed in detail.

CONCLUSION: Areas of interest for potential future research will be explored for all aspects of nutritional therapy with a discussion of future strategies which may enhance the intestinal adaptive process, and thus aid our goal of making the adaptation process occur more quickly and shortening the time of PN.