Nutrition in acute pulmonary disease

Acutely stressed patients with chronic pulmonary disease have a particular need for accurate nutritional assessment and appropriate nutritional therapy. Loss of skeletal muscle, often extensive, can be paralleled by dramatic alterations in cellular function; inadvertent provision of excessive calories or of individual substrates may produce more harm than benefit. In the absence of a single "gold standard" for nutritional assessment and monitoring, no single value should take precedence over the entire clinical picture, which should be thoughtfully assessed and reassessed, with both the patient's nutritional needs and the consequences of their provision kept in mind. In the future, assessments of the impact of nutritional intervention will probably rely more heavily on functional tests of specific organs and of the immune system. Intervention will be based not only on provision of calories, individual substrates, vitamins, and minerals, but also on control of the inflammatory response in order that the nutrients may be properly utilized.