Correction of malnutrition following gastrectomy with cyclic enteral nutrition.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of cyclic enteral nutrition (CyEN) in gastrectomized patients and to compare the nutritional response to refeeding of 28 gastrectomized patients and 38 nongastrectomized undernourished patients. Total (enteral + oral) energy intake (292% and 284% of resting energy expenditure in gastrectomized and nongastrectomized patients, respectively) and the duration of CyEN (27 days) were similar in both groups. Tolerance was good and not different in the two groups. In the gastrectomized patients, a global nutritional deficiency score based on 10 biological and anthropometric parameters significantly improved (P < 0.0001) with six of the 10 nutritional parameters studied being improved by renutrition. Comparison of the two groups revealed similar efficacy of refeeding; the global nutritional deficiency score improved by 42.7 +/- 17.3% in group 1 and 40.0 +/- 17.4% in group 2. After one year, the probability of being alive without relapse was 77.8% in the gastrectomized and 72.2% in the nongastrectomized patients (P = 0.70). The efficacy of renutrition was similar regardless of the type of gastrectomy (eg, partial or total). CyEN is a safe, effective and durable treatment for undernutrition in gastrectomized patients.