Early postoperative enteral immunonutrition: clinical outcome and cost-comparison analysis in surgical patients

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. Early enteral feeding with either the supplemented immunonutrition diet or the isonitrogenous, isocaloric placebo diet, was well tolerated in patients who underwent upper GI surgery. In patients who received the supplemented diet, a significant reduction in the frequency rate of late post-operative infectious and wound complications was observed. Thus, the treatment costs were substantially reduced in the immunonutrition group, as compared with the placebo group.