Treatment of extravasation from parenteral nutrition solution

To report two cases of parenteral nutrition extravasation and their treatment in adult patients.

Case 1: A 23-year old white woman was admitted to our hospital diagnosed with a gastrointestinal infection by Salmonella paratyphi sv. B. The treatment included peripheral parenteral nutrition (osmolarity 652 mOsm/L). After 4 days an extravasation of parenteral nutrition was detected in the left antecubital fossa. The affected area soon became inflamed. Chondroitinsulfatase 150 turbidity-reducing units (TRUs), diluted in 3 mL of NaCl 0.9% and administered in six subcutaneous applications around the area, was prescribed. The treatment was successful. The patient was discharged several days later with no sequelae of the extravasation. Case 2: A 33-year-old white woman was admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery for a necrohemorrhagic pancreatitis. The treatment included parenteral nutrition via a central catheter (osmolarity 2130 mOsm/L). Two days later the patient presented a parenteral nutrition subcutaneous extravasation in her left hemithorax around the catheter access site. Chondroitinsulfatase 200 TRUs, diluted in 2 mL of NaCl 0.9% and administered in eight subcutaneous applications around the area, was prescribed. No sequelae of the incident remained. The patient was discharged home 2 months later.

Parenteral nutrition solution can cause tissue harm after extravasation. Both patients presented an intense inflammatory reaction after the accident. Three treatments have been used in extravasation of parenteral nutrition, but in our patients hyaluronidase was the only applicable treatment. As this enzyme is not commercially available in Spain, chondroitinsulfatase, an enzyme very similar to hyaluronidase, was used.

Chondroitinsulfatase was useful in treating extravasation of parenteral nutrition in two adult patients.