Active clinical trials for "Refeeding Syndrome"

Refeeding Syndrome is a condition that occurs when patients who are undernourished or undernourished suddenly start overfeeding, causing electrolyte disturbances and vitamin deficiencies, resulting in neurological and cardiac problems. It may even result in death. It is aimed to prevent the development of Refeeding Syndrome with nutrition in accordance with the guidelines. The aim of this study is to determine the risk factors for Refeeding Syndrome in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

A phosphate supplement is part of the treatment of patients with the refeeding syndrome (RFS). It is not known, if the generalized edema also affects the intestine to decrease absorption. The aim was to investigate, if oral treatment is possible in mild to moderate RFS. In a randomized crossover design 12 hospitalized head-neck cancer patients ingested four oral solutions of phosphate in two-day periods. In a low-dose period the investigators compared five mmol phosphate from either skimmed milk or Di-sodiumphosphate-di-hydrate and potassium di-hydrogens-phosphate with black currant flavor (PBC), and in a high-dose period 20 mmol from either Addiphos® or the PBC-solution. P-phosphate was measured two and four hours after the ingestion, the urinary excretion after four hours. P-phosphate significantly increased after PBC in both the low- and high-dose and Addiphos®, but not after skimmed milk. The increase was larger after Addiphos® than the PBC-solution. There was no difference in the increase between the patients with low p-phosphate and those with normal values, and no correlation between baseline p-phosphate and percent increase. There was no group difference in the urinary excretion of phosphate. The investigators conclude that phosphate can be readily absorbed after oral administration, but skimmed milk can´t be recommend for this purpose.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a nutritional strategy is effective in critically ill patients with cancer diagnosed with refeeding syndrome.

The study is based on a master thesis which showed that 72% of patients with head and neck cancer admitted to a Danish hospital (Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen) developed refeeding syndrome after admission. Refeeding syndrome is characterized by a decrease in plasma phosphate levels, which develops after the reintroduction of an adequate food intake after a longer period of starvation or semi-starvation. This normally happens within 7 days after reintroduction of food. The aim of this study is to minimize the incidence of refeeding syndrome in this group of patients by reintroducing food slowly and by providing a diet low in sodium and high in slowly absorbed carbohydrates as a prevention diet (i.e. given before a potential decrease in plasma phosphate levels appear). Both patients that eat normally, patients with eating tubes and patients with central vein catheters are included in the study, but the data will be evaluated both together and separately.

Malnutrition is highly prevalent among older adults. Adequate treatment is crucial to maintain health, improve functional status and independency. For severely malnourished patient, tube feeding is often the most effective treatment, but it also implies a risk of developing refeeding syndrome (RFS). RFS is described as fluid and electrolyte shifts particular hypophosphatemia when recommencing nutrition, potentially causing fatal complications. In 2006 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) developed guidelines regarding 1) detecting patients at risk for RFS and 2) a treatment plan for refeeding severely malnourished patients. These guidelines have never been validated. Hence, there is a need to explore the use of different refeeding regimens in the treatment of older malnourished patients, in regards to assess safety, as well as the impact of the treatment, on functional status, independency, quality of life and RFS. This will be the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) that challenges the existing NICE guidelines. A blinded RCT study, with the aim of tube feeding patients at risk for developing RFS, and assigned either to an intervention group or to a control group, comparing the different refeeding regimens. This study will help develop safe and validated refeeding protocols for severely malnourished older patients.

Background and study hypothesis: Refeeding syndrome is a dangerous condition which could arise if patients who have had little or no food for many days, are started on any form of feeding. The metabolic consequences of this condition could affect the heart, lungs and nervous system of the patient and cause serious imbalance in the level of salts in the body. The available guidelines for predicting that refeeding syndrome may occur are very subjective since they depend mainly on a history which is sometimes difficult to obtain from the patient. The main biochemical landmark that refeeding syndrome has occurred is a fall in the phosphate levels once feeding has been started. There are currently no biochemical markers that can identify patients at risk of developing refeeding syndrome. Leptin and IGF1 are hormones which have been observed to go down if someone has had little or no food for a while. The investigators therefore hypothesized that using a combination of leptin and IGF1 values in a 'Refeeding Index' would make the latter a useful biochemical marker to predict that refeeding may occur, hence take the precautionary measures to avoid its occurrence before starting feeding. Design: Thirty five consecutive patients referred for commencement of parenteral nutrition (PN) were included. Serum leptin and IGF1 were measured prior to starting PN. Electrolytes, liver and renal function tests were measured before and daily for one week after initiating PN. The primary outcome was a decrease in phosphate on day two or three after initiating PN. A 'Refeeding Index' (RI) was defined as leptin x IGF1 divided by 2800 to produce a ratio of 1.0 in patients who are well nourished.

Severe tuberculosis (TB) leads to wasting and anorexia, increasing risk of the refeeding syndrome (RFS) as defined by current criteria. TB patients have high metabolic rates and require a high calorie diet, with nutritional supplementation programs improving outcomes. BMI inversely correlates with mortality in these patients. Risk of RFS, a life-threatening syndrome associated with initiation of feeding after a period of low intake, has not been studied in this population and it is not known whether severely malnourished TB patients benefit from lower caloric intake. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of RFS in TB inpatients in rural India and correlate this with baseline and inpatient caloric intake.

This study intends to strengthen the discussion on the risk factors of RFS in critically ill patients, and construct an RFS risk prediction model which is easy for clinical medical staff to use and has a high sensitivity and specificity; In order to help medical staff to identify the high-risk groups of RFS in critically ill patients efficiently and accurately, and take targeted care and treatment for patients, so as to reduce the adverse consequences of RFS on critically ill patients.

The refeeding syndrome has been reported without any evidence of prolopnged semistarvation, thus being different from the traditional disease. The investigators wanted to investigate, if sodium infusions could be part of the explanation.

Critically ill patients with high-risk nutrition are often at risk of refeeding syndrome(RFS), that the incidence of RFS is as high as 30-50%. It is sure that patients with refeeding syndrome were treated with restrictive enteral nutrition, but the definition of refeeding syndrome is not uniform, and there is still a lack of awareness high-risk patients of RFS to receiving early empirical low-calorie feeding intervention. So, we designed the study which is divided into three stages. Firstly, the monitoring rate of RFS was reviewed to evaluate the incidence of RFS in general ICU. Secondly, the best diagnostic criteria of RFS were prospectively defined. Finally, on this basis, it is assessed whether early low-calorie feeding could improve prognosis in high-risk patients with RFS.