Abstract

AVILA, J. A  and  CASTANO, D. A. PARENTERAL NUTRITION IN SMALL ANIMALS A review of some important aspects. Rev. Med. Vet. Zoot. [online]. 2012, vol.59, n.1, pp.56-67. ISSN 0120-2952.

The adequate and timely nutritional support helps to reduce the risk of infections and improves the immune function and the patient's prognosis; that's why the importance of keeping an adequate nutritional state in critically ill patients is often emphasized. With that aim, this paper highlights the value of parenteral nutrition and its role in those animals with a present or anticipated malnutrition, as long as the enteral route is not available or insufficient because of metabolism problems that predispose to an increased muscular catabolism. A proper preparation of a nutritional plan should take into account issues of great importance, such as the whole assessment of the historical findings -clinical and paraclinical- in order to detect the degree or the risk of malnutrition. The selection of the most appropriate nutrition type and the solution type to be used are equally important since they vary on every case depending on the condition, the patient's current situation and its associated pathologies. Thus, the calculation of the energy requirements and the way they will be supplemented are variables that must be handled with caution in order to avoid exceeding the metabolic capacity and trigger complications that increase morbidity and mortality. Finally, it is equally important to highlight that parenteral nutrition should be discontinued as soon as possible to reduce problems associated with it, like gastrointestinal atrophy.

Keywords : parenteral; nutrition; critical patient; small animals.

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