[Efficacy of oral supplementation during dialysis in patients with chronic renal failure]

A roadmap for implementing a successful clinical experience with intradialytic parenteral nutrition

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) is a safe and effective patient-tailored nutritional strategy for providing nutrient supplementation to malnourished or at risk of malnutrition patients on hemodialysis (HD), who did not adequately respond to intensive dietary counselling and oral nutritional supplementation. Although IDPN is recommended by current ESPEN and KDOQI guidelines for nutrition in HD patients, none of these documents informs how to successfully implement this therapy, being the lack of knowledge on practical aspects of IDPN one of the main limitations to its use. The aim of this narrative review was to provide a practical roadmap for guiding the nephrologists, dietitians, and renal nurses in their everyday clinical practice about the use of IDPN.

METHODS

A multidisciplinary group formed by specialists from the areas of Nephrology and Nutrition agreed to address different practical aspects related to IDPN in HD patients. Based on the available evidence in the literature and on the authors' clinical experience, different topics were selected to develop a detailed plan for implementing a successful experience with IDPN, proposing a practical IDPN roadmap.

RESULTS

This IDPN roadmap provides practical information on when an IDPN should be started; what type of nutrients should be part of an IDPN; how the IDPN should be administered; how the effectiveness and safety of the IDPN should be monitored; how to determine the effectiveness of IDPN; and the conditions that advise discontinuing the IDPN.

CONCLUSIONS

IDPN is a safe and effective nutritional therapy for HD patients, although the lack of staff training may limit its use. This review addresses different practical aspects of IDPN, helping interdisciplinary teams in their daily clinical practice to improve the nutritional care of HD patients, either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition.

Simply adding oral nutritional supplementation to haemodialysis patients may not be enough: a real-life prospective interventional study

Introduction

Protein-energy wasting (PEW) is a common and serious co-morbidity in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Its importance as a prognostic factor has been increasingly recognised during the past decades. Much effort has been invested in the improvement of nutritional status and amelioration of consequences through different therapeutic approaches, either intradialytic parenteral nutrition or more commonly oral nutritional supplementation. In the article, we present the results of a prospective study in HD patients after 12 months of therapeutic intervention with oral nutritional supplements (ONS).

Methods

A total of 92 HD adult patients were enrolled in the study after 3 months of wash-out period. Baseline nutritional status was assessed using composite scores, laboratory markers, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and hand-grip strength test. Patients recognised as undernourished or at high risk for undernutrition received renal-specific commercially available ONS on HD day in addition to their regular diet. After 12 months, the effect of ONS on surrogate markers of undernutrition, serum albumin level, phase angle, and hand-grip strength was analysed in 71 surviving patients.

Results

After 12 months, data for 71 patients, 39 (54.9%) men, 62.4 ± 12.9 years, and median haemodialysis vintage 53.3 (IQR 27.5-92.8) months, were available. Patients were divided into three groups: group A patients were with normal nutritional status at baseline not necessitating ONS; group B patients received ONS; and group C patients were entitled to receive but refused to take ONS. The baseline results showed statistically significant differences between the groups in serum albumin levels and phase angle but not hand-grip strength. Differences between the groups remained statistically significant at month 12; we did not find any statistically significant positive changes within the groups, indicating no positive effect of intervention with ONS.

Conclusion

In a prospectively designed interventional single-centre study, we did not find a statistically significant change in surrogate markers of PEW in our cohort of HD patients, receiving ONS for 12 months. Since PEW is an independent risk factor influencing the survival of HD patients, efforts should be directed towards a timely and comprehensive nutritional approach, including intensive, personalised dietary counselling, increase in protein and energy intake and advocating tight control of nutritional status during HD treatment, possibly providing psychological support and motivation.

A Comparative Study of the Efficacy of an Intervention with a Nutritional Supplement for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Randomized Trial

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves heterogeneous diseases that affect the renal structure and function. Malnutrition plays a crucial role during patients with CKD on hemodialysis (HD) treatment and is associated with an increased rate and duration of hospitalizations. The aim of this randomized, parallel, intervention-controlled trial was to assess whether the use of daily supplementation with a new nutritional product developed by the Grand Fontaine Laboratories improves the nutritional status and anthropometric parameters of stage 5 CKD patients, compared with standard renal dietary advice, after three months of follow-up. Dietary intake, anthropometric measurements, physical activity, and blood samples were collected at baseline and after three months of intervention. Significant improvements were observed within the intervention group in body weight (1.5 kg [95% CI: 0.9 to 2.12 kg]) and BMI (0.54 kg/m² [95% CI: 0.31 to 0.77]; p-value between groups, 0.002 and 0.006, respectively). In the control group, significant decreases were observed in transferrin saturation (-5.04% [95% CI: -8.88 to -1.21]) and alpha-tocopherol levels (-3.31 umol/L [95% CI: -6.30 to -0.32]). We concluded that daily dietary intake of a specific renal nutritional complement in CKD patients with or at risk of malnutrition may prevent deterioration in nutritional parameters.

[Nutrition in chronic kidney disease]

INTRODUCTION

Chronic kidney disease patients often also present protein-calorie malnutrition, and it is a powerful predictor of morbidity and mortality. In this article, causes and management are shown, highlighting oral and parenteral nutritional supplementation, especially during dialysis process.