Prospective randomized trial of preoperative enteral immunonutrition followed by elective total gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Background: Perioperative enteral immunonutrition is thought to reduce postoperative morbidity in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. This study assessed the clinical effects of preoperative enteral immunonutrition in well nourished patients with gastric cancer undergoing total gastrectomy.

Methods: Well nourished patients with primary gastric cancer, fit for total gastrectomy, were randomized to either a control group with regular diet, or an immunonutrition group that received regular diet supplemented with 1000 ml/day of immunonutrients for 5 consecutive days before surgery. The primary endpoint was the incidence of surgical-site infection (SSI). Secondary endpoints were rates of infectious complications, overall postoperative morbidity and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on 3-4 days after surgery.

Results: Of 244 randomized patients, 117 were allocated to the control group and 127 received immunonutrition. SSIs occurred in 27 patients in the immunonutrition group and 23 patients in the control group (risk ratio (RR) 1.09, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.66 to 1.78). Infectious complications were observed in 30 patients in the immunonutrition group and 27 in the control group (RR 1.11, 0.59 to 2.08). The overall postoperative morbidity rate was 30.8 and 26.1 per cent respectively (RR 1.18, 0.78 to 1.78). The median CRP value was 11.8 mg/dl in the immunonutrition group and 9.2 mg/dl in the control group (P = 0.113).

Conclusion: Five-day preoperative enteral immunonutrition failed to demonstrate any clear advantage in terms of early clinical outcomes or modification of the systemic acute-phase response in well nourished patients with gastric cancer undergoing elective total gastrectomy.

Registration number: ID 000000648 (University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) database).