Principles and strategies for monitoring home parenteral nutrition.

Patients who cannot ingest adequate calories to maintain body weight via their gastrointestinal tract may require parenteral nutrition (PN) at home. As with any therapy, the patient must be evaluated to determine if the home PN (HPN) is effective and the patient is free of complications. This review discusses specific items to monitor for HPN patients. Parameters to monitor can be divided into those used to determine effectiveness and those used to prevent complications of HPN. In addition, potential HPN-associated complications can be divided into those that occur with short- or long-term PN administration. Specific items to monitor are discussed within this framework.