[Temperature of refrigerated parenteral nutrition solutions at the end of 2 infusion systems]

It is common practice to let parenteral nutrition bags that are kept refrigerated stand at room temperature before administration. In this study the temperature of the mixtures administration. In this study the temperature of the mixtures flowing at the end of a conventional system (Intrafix 145 cm long) and at the end of a flow-control system (Dial-a-flow 226 cm long) were measured. Mixture temperatures within the parenteral nutrition bag were recorded upon removal from the refrigerator, at the end of the infusion system after purging the system with the fastest flow rate possible (time 0), and at 5, 10, and 15 minutes, after sustaining continuous flow at 100 cc/hour. The conventional system showed no statistically significant differences (P less than 0.05) between room temperature (23.7 +/- 0.5) and mixture temperature at the end of the infusion line at 15 minutes of infusion (23.0 +/- 0.9). The Dial-a-flow system showed no statistically significant differences between room temperature (24.5 +/- 0.9) and mixture temperatures at the end of the system (time 0: 23.7 +/- 2.2; 5 minutes, 24.1 +/- 0.8; 10 minutes, 24.3 +/- 0.7; 15 minutes, 24.4 +/- 0.7) (p less than 0.05). Therefore, the results indicate that refrigerated parenteral nutrition bags can be administered directly to the patient without waiting for the mixture to warm up, anytime the length of the infusion system is over 145 cm. Occasional reactions observed at the onset of parenteral nutrition therapy cannot be attributed to low mixture temperature, and as such, other reasons must be searched for.