The objective of this study is to explore the inflammatory modulation effect of
glutamine-enriched
total parenteral nutrition (TPN) by investigating the alterations of
inflammation-related
cytokines in gastrointestinal (GI)
cancer patients postoperatively. Fifty GI
cancer patients received postoperative 7 days of isocaloric and isonitrogenous TPN after operation. They were randomly divided to receive either
glutamine-enriched TPN or standard TPN. The
inflammation-related
cytokines including
interleukin-6,
interleukin-10, and
tumor necrosis factor-α were also determined. Records of nutritional assessments, inflammatory status, and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. Of 50 enrolled patients, 25 patients were classified as the intervention group, and the control group also comprised 25 patients. The differences of gender, age, primary GI
malignancies, and hematological and biochemical data between the two compared groups were not statistically significant (all P > 0.05). Compared with standard TPN, a higher serum
prealbumin level and better
nitrogen balance were observed in
glutamine-enriched TPN (P = 0.039 and 0.048 respectively). A significantly lower serum
interleukin-6 level was found in comparing
glutamine-enriched with standard TPN (P = 0.01), but not in
interleukin-10 (P = 0.374) and
tumor necrosis factor-α levels (P = 0.653). Moreover, a significant lower serum
C-reactive protein level was detected in
glutamine-enriched TPN compared with standard TPN (P = 0.013). Indeed, four cases of postoperative infectious complications were noted in the control group, but no postoperative infectious complications were observed in the interventional group (P = 0.037). Our present study shows that
glutamine-enriched TPN may be beneficial in improving the inflammatory status and decreasing the infectious morbidity in postoperative GI
cancer patients.