Nutritional Intervention for a Critically Ill Trauma Patient: A Case Report

Critically ill trauma patients generally show good nutritional status upon initial hospitalization. However, they have a high risk of malnutrition due to hyper-metabolism during the acute phase. Hence, suitable nutritional support is essential for the optimal recovery of these patients; therefore, outcomes such as preservation of fat-free mass, maintenance of immune functions, reduction in infectious complications, and prevention of malnutrition can be expected. In this report, we present the experience of a patient subjected to 40 days of nutritional interventions during postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) care. Although the patient was no malnutrition at ICU admission, enteral nutrition (EN) was delayed for > 2 weeks because of several postoperative complications. Subsequently, while receiving parenteral nutrition (PN), the patient displayed persistent hypertriglyceridemia. As a result, his prescription of PN were converted to lipid-free PN. On postoperative day (POD) #19, the patient underwent jejunostomy and started standard EN. A week later, the patient was switched to a high-protein, immune-modulating formula for postoperative wound recovery. Thereafter, PN was stopped, while EN was increased. In addition, because of defecation issues, a fiber-containing formula was administered with previous formula alternately. Despite continuous nutritional intervention, the patient experienced a significant weight loss and muscle mass depletion and was diagnosed with severe malnutrition upon discharge from the ICU. To conclude, this case report highlights the importance of nutrition interventions in critically ill trauma patients with an increased risk of malnutrition, indicating the need to promptly secure an appropriate route of feeding access for active nutritional support of patients in the ICU.