Effect of early enteral nutrition on prevention of infections after esophagectomy

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of early enteral nutrition on the prevention of infections after esophageal cancer surgery so as to guide the clinical treatment.METHODS A total of 100 patients with esophageal cancer were randomly divided into the enteral nutrition(EN group) and the parenteral nutrition(PN group) with 50 cases in each.The EN group was treated with enteral nutrition support,and the PN group was given the total parenteral nutrition;the humoral immunity indexes(IgA,IgG and IgM in the blood)were detected with Array360 analyzer on the first day and eighth day after the surgery,and the immune indexes(T-lymphocytes and their subsets,NK cells,B lymphocytes) were detected by using Beckman-Coulter Epics XL flow cytometry.RESULTS There were 1 case with incision infections,1 case with pulmonary infections,and 1 case with anastomotic leakage in the EN group,and there were respectively 4 cases,5 cases,and 4 cases in the PN group,the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(P0.05).The IgA,IgG,IgM,CD3+,CD4+ and CD8+,CD4+/CD8+,NK cells,and B lymphocytes on the first day and eighth day were compared between the EN group and the PN group.The levels of IgA,IgG and IgM,and CD3+ and CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+,NK cells,and B lymphocytes at the eighth day after the surgery of the EN group was significantly elevated as compared with the PN group(P0.05),but the CD8+ was decreased.CONCLUSION Early enteral nutrition can prevent the infections after the esophageal cancer surgery and may be related to the improvement of the body's immune function.