[Lipid emulsion selection in parenteral nutrition. Biochemical and hematological paramaters].

INTRODUCTION: Lipid emulsions (LE) are a component of parenteral nutrition (PN) and its fatty acid (FA) profile determines various physiological responses.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the adequacy of a clinical not restricted protocol in the choice of LE by studying complementary biochemical and hematological parameters (BHP) at the beginning of the PN.

METHODS: A 4-year retrospective observational study of LE administered to patients with PN. Demographic, clinical, nutritional and analytical variables at the beginning of the PN were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to study the correlation between the initial clinical and biochemical parameters and the LE profile used.

RESULTS: Four hundred and sixty patients (29.5%) out of 1,558 had BHP at the beginning of PN and used mainly the LE combinations soybean (SO) + medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) + olive (OO) + fish (FO) (37.4%) and SO + MCT + OO (35.6%). Statistically significant differences on the LE pattern were observed between patients with and those without initial BHP (44.8% vs39.5% received FO, respectively). Conditions regularly associated with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) were associated with increased use of FO LE: SO+OO+FO (OR: 4.52 [95% CI: 1.43-13.91]) and SO+MCT+OO+FO (OR: 3.34 [95% CI: 2.10-5.33]). In those complex conditions related with the critical patient MCT were used: hepatic failure (SO+MCT OR: 2.42 [95% CI: 1.03-5.68]) and renal failure (SO+MCT+FO OR: 3.34 [95% CI: 1.12-9.99]).

CONCLUSIONS: The use of BHP at the beginning of PN treatment allows complementing the clinical and metabolic criteria in LE selection.