Impact of enteral nutrition using a new immuno-modulating diet after liver transplantation

A prospective, non-randomized, pilot study to was conducted to examine the effect of early enteral nutrition with a new immuno-modulating diet (IMD) enriched with whey-hydrolyzed peptide (WHP) on postoperative bacteremia in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

Thirty adult patients who underwent LDLT at our institute between September 2009 and March 2010 were non-randomly assigned in a 1:2 ratio to receive a new IMD enriched with WHP (WHP group, n=10) or conventional elemental diet (ED group, n=20) as the nutrient for early enteral nutrition.

The characteristics of patients did not differ between the two groups. The incidence of post transplant bacteremia was significantly higher in the ED group (50%) compared with that in the WHP group (10%) (p = 0.026). The length of postoperative hospital stay in the WHP group was significantly shorter than that in the ED group (p = 0.018). The incidences of acute cellular rejection were similar in the two groups.

Early enteral nutrition with the new IMD enriched with WHP may be useful to prevent post transplant bacteremia and shorten postoperative hospital stay, although randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm this finding.