[Home parenteral nutrition in the elderly]

The number of elderly patients receiving home parenteral nutrition (HPN) has been increasing. This could result from several factors such as advances in HPN therapy and the natural aging of long-term older patients on HPN. Our experience shows that elderly patients receiving HPN are likely to be highly dependent on family members to supervise their HPN therapy. Therefore, indepth education of family members is essential before HPN is initiated. The important points to manage the elderly HPN patients are as follows: 1) It takes a long time for the elderly to learn the technique. 2) They often make technical mistakes. 3) In many cases, patients are not living with their children. Therefore, it is often difficult for them to support the patient's HPN therapy. 4) Nurses play an important role in giving instructions on catheter care and HPN techniques to the patient or family members.