Management of Short Bowel Syndrome With Chronic Intestinal Failure: A Single-Center Experience in Portugal

Short bowel syndrome with chronic intestinal failure (SBS/CIF) is the inability to maintain protein-energy, fluid, electrolyte, or micronutrient balance due to a short bowel. Although SBS/CIF is rare, its clinical management is complex, challenging, expensive, and time-consuming.

This study aimed to analyze a single center's experience with SBS/CIF in adult patients treated with home parenteral nutrition (HPN).

A retrospective single-center analysis of all 13 consecutive adult patients with SBS/CIF was included in an HPN program between January 1994 and August 2023.

Between 1992 and 2023, 13 patients were included in an HPN program. The primary underlying pathology was acute mesenteric ischemia. The median age of starting HPN was 44 years. Most were subjected to several surgeries of extensive intestinal resection with posterior intestinal reconstruction. Five of the 13 patients died while on HPN with a median duration of 42 months. The causes of death related to HPN were catheter sepsis, endocarditis with cardiac failure, or hepatic failure. One patient died due to underlying pathology: pelvic abscesses and bleeding related to radiotherapy. Eight patients remain alive, with a median time of HPN of 173 months. During the HPN support, the most frequent complications were venous catheter infection and venous territory thrombosis. None of the eight patients alive have hepatic failure. Two patients recently started teduglutide with good tolerance and need a reduction in HPN support. All eight patients have a satisfactory quality of life (parenteral support needs range between five and two nutrition bags per week).  Conclusion: Home parenteral nutrition remains the gold standard of SBS/CIF treatment, although teduglutide may reduce HPN needs and complications and provide a better quality of life. Despite the small number of patients, the results shown in this study are not inferior to those in large-volume centers. The existence of the commitment and interest of professionals involved in SBS/CIF at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António, Portugal, was a fundamental key to achieving those results. A multidisciplinary healthcare group for HPN support can be essential to ensuring these patients' survival and quality of life.