Effect of fat emulsion in patients with liver disorders

The effect of fat emulsion in preoperative patients (n = 17) with liver disorders was studied by liver-function tests, intraoperative liver biopsy specimens, intravenous fat tolerance tests, and serum fatty acid analyses. There was no difference between liver-function tests before and after the administration of fat emulsion. Before the administration of fat emulsion, the levels of serum lipids were relatively low, and serum fatty acid patterns were abnormal. However, after the administration of fat emulsion, serum lipid levels increased, and serum fatty acid patterns became nearly normal. There was a significant correlation between the total fat intake and serum linoleic acid change before and after the administration of fat emulsion. From this equation, the total fat intake required for a normal range of serum linoleic acid was calculated to be 7 g/kg fat. These results suggest that the administration of fat emulsion improves serum fatty acid patterns without a deterioration of liver function in preoperative patients with liver disorders, but total intake of 10% fat emulsion greater than 70 ml/kg might induce higher serum fatty acids than in healthy control subjects and cause overload in these patients.