Parenteral nutrition in toxic septic states

An analysis is made of two groups each of 20 patients with toxic septic states and hypercatabolic renal failure, who were given parenteral nutrition for at least 3 days. Each group was divided into two subgroups, given glucose, 13--20 and 20--27 kcal. 24 h--1 kg--1 body weight; the second subgroup was also given nitrogen-containing infusions of 0.05--0.12 or 0.12--0.17 g of N 24--1/kg--1 body weight, the total calorie intake amounting to 23--28 and 28--33 kcal. 24 h--1 kg--1 respectively, with nitrogen amounting to 150--400 kcal./g. A mean daily decrease of blood urea of 9.2 mg/100 ml was recorded, together with a positive catabolism in the series given nitrogen, and a rise of 0.8 mg/100 ml with negative catabolic index in the series fed with glucose (P less than 0.01); there were similar nitrogen losses in both the series, corrected by catabolism formula. The results demonstrated a decreased rate of catabolism in patients fed with a diet containing nitrogenous compounds.