This study was undertaken to clarify the importance of nutritional status in patients with
acute cholecystitis, and also evaluate whether they benefited from
enteral nutrition supplementation, including medium-chain
triglycerides (MCT), during the convalescent stage. Patients with
acute cholecystitis admitted to our hospital between April 1994 and March 2002 were classified into a poor nutrition group (n=40; total
serum protein<5.0 g/dl) or a fair nutrition group (n=71; >5.0 g/dl). Patients with poor nutrition were significantly more elderly than those with fair nutrition, and had significantly higher serum
C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations. The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to other laboratory data, gender distribution, or medical treatment. We supplemented ordinary meals with
enteral nutrition including MCT in 16 patients during the convalescent stage (MCT group). We compared their length of
hospital stay and days required to recovery to pre-admission functional status for
activities of daily living (
ADL) with the same intervals in 16 patients without supplementation (non-MCT group) selected to match for age, gender, and fair or poor nutritional status from among 111 patients. Hospitalizations were significantly longer in the poor nutrition group (43.0+/-2.2 days) than in the fair nutrition group (27.0+/-8.2 days). Significantly more days were required to recover
ADL status in the poor nutrition group (12.0+/-7.2 days) than in the fair group (9.4+/-5.2 days). Hospitalizations were significantly shorter in the MCT group (20.1+/-15 days) than in the non-MCT group (35.4+/-12.8 days). Significantly fewer days were required to recover
ADL status in the MCT group (10.9+/-7 days) than in the non-MCT group (13.1+/-6.8 days). Administration of
enteral nutrition including MCT during
convalescence from
acute cholecystitis thus appears to promote functional recovery shorten
hospital stay.