n-3 fatty acid-based parenteral nutrition improves postoperative recovery for cirrhotic patients with liver cancer: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Background & aims: A new lipid emulsion enriched in n-3 fatty acid has been reported to prevent hepatic inflammation in patients following major surgery. However, the role of n-3 fatty acid-based parenteral nutrition for postoperative patients with cirrhosis-related liver cancer is unclear. We investigated the safety and efficacy of n-3 fatty acid-based parenteral nutrition for cirrhotic patients with liver cancer followed hepatectomy.

Methods: A prospective randomized controlled clinical trial (Registered under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier no. NCT02321202) was conducted for cirrhotic patients with liver cancer that underwent hepatectomy between March 2010 and September 2013 in our institution. We compared isonitrogenous total parenteral nutrition with 20% Structolipid and 10% n-3 fatty acid (Omegaven, Fresenius-Kabi, Germany) (treatment group) to Structolipid alone (control group) for five days postoperatively, in the absence of enteral nutrition.

Results: We enrolled 320 patients, and 312 (97.5%) were included in analysis (155 in the control group and 157 in the treatment group). There was a significant reduction of morbidity and mortality in the treatment group, when compared with the control group (total complications 78 [50.32%] vs. 46 [29.30%]; P < 0.001, total infective complications, 30 [19.35%] vs. 15 [9.55%]; P = 0.014), overall mortality (5 [3.23%] vs. 1 [0.64%]; P = 0.210), and hospital stay (12.56 ± 3.21 d vs. 10.17 ± 3.15 d; P = 0.018).

Conclusions: We found that addition of n-3 fatty acid-based parenteral nutrition significantly improved postoperative recovery for cirrhotic patients with liver cancer following hepatectomy, with a significant reduction in overall mortality and length of hospital stay.