Intestinal morphological changes during oral refeeding in a patient previously treated with total parenteral...

This report describes a patient who, after a subtotal resection of small intestine for an embolic obstruction of the superior mesenteric artery, was maintained on total parenteral nutrition for 30 days and then refed. Cytoproliferative analysis of the intestinal mucosa, evaluated by peroral biopsies performed on days 1, 5, 14 and 30 after oral refeeding, demonstrated an increase in cell proliferation from 1 to 14 days after refeeding, followed by a return to starting values after 30 days. On days 1 and 5, we saw an intestinal hypoplasia that became a hyperplasia after 14 days of oral refeeding. Our data confirm the importance of oral nutrition for the small intestinal response after resection.