[Nutrition in the first 100 liver transplants performed at the Hospital General Vall d'Hebrón]

The orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) is a therapeutic alternative in the terminal stages of liver pathology. It is a surgical procedure which is being used on a steadily increasing basis. In our Hospital, a OLT program was started in 1988. Coinciding with the one hundredth OLT, we have gathered, retrospectively the methods of nourishing these patients, as well as the possible connections existing between the nutritional support system and the time spent by these patients in the intensive care unit on one hand, and the mortality presented on the other hand. Parenteral nutrition (PN) was the initial nutritional support system most used by the patients in our unit. Those patients needing PN as the primary nutritional support system, presented significantly longer stays in the ICU and a tendency towards higher mortality than did those who required another type of nutrition as the primary nutritional support system. In 21% of the patients, the PN could, possibly, have been avoided. Oral nutrition (ON) was the next most frequent method of primary nutritional support, and the most frequent method as far as global nutrition, with enteral nutrition (EN) being used in very few cases.