Total parenteral nutrition with fat emulsions during pregnancy--nutritional requirements: a case report

After a corrosive burn of the upper gastrointestinal tract leading to a severe dysphagia and to a weight loss of 15 kilograms, a 21-year-old female was treated by total parenteral nutrition (TPN) during the last 7 weeks of pregnancy. TPN by complete nutritive mixtures comprised daily crystalline amino acid solutions and as energy sources glucose plus lipids, the latter representing 43% of the nonprotein calories. A term normal 2800 gram female was delivered by cesarian section. This case report demonstrates the absence of any side effects on pregnancy related to fat emulsions used in usual proportions. Among the nutritional parameters studied here, the variations of weight and creatinine height index seem to be the best indicators of the maternal nutritional status in these cases. Approximately 50 kilocalories and 220 milligrams of nitrogen per kilograms body weight daily seem to be sufficient to restore and to maintain the maternal nutritional conditions and fetal growth.