In some cases it might become vital to get total parenteral nutrition in order to support the body’s metabolism, although it is very rare that you will go for this without a prescription from the doctor.You will have to take a drip through a catheter or a needle in your vein for 10-12 hours a day to get the nutrients in your body. This method of nutrition is used mostly in cases when it is not possible to get nutrition through eating.

    Total parenteral nutrition consists of all the vital nutrients needed by the body including sugar, carbohydrates, proteins, electrolytes and trace elements apart from lipids. This is a very direct method of obtaining nutrients unlike food, which needs to be digested.The bioavailability of iron in vitamins helps to keep the body free from deficiency diseases too. Getting nutrition through this method ensures that you are able to keep on getting the vital nutrients you need to live even though a medical condition might prevent you from eating anything.

    This is a boon for patients who have to undergo surgeries, or suffer from ailments that prevent them from eating. This is a superior and more direct method of getting nutrition to nasal drips.Although mostly you will administer TPN under supervision, it might also be possible that you might have to take TPN independently. In such a case make sure you train yourself about the precautions you need to take.

    TPN is a boon of medical science to patients, and aids in saving thousands of live who would otherwise have no means of getting nutrients that their bodies need...

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Comments

Robert Scharett  (2006-10-24 07:52:20) Why is the use of Vit K so important when using TPN thank you.

Moderator - John  (2006-10-24 08:38:02) All TPN patients , have to take their standard vitamin package.Most of the packages provide vitamins like : (A,B,C,D,E,Folic Acid and Biotin).If the use of K vitamin is needed , then we can assume the absorption is impaired.TPN nutrition is a good way to assure the absorption into the organism of this vitamin.After our knowledge in USA the only multivitamin preparation for TPN that contains K vitamin is MVI-Pediatric.In general the multivitamin preparations included in total parenteral nutrition contain vitamins A, B, C, and E but not vitamin K.To answer you question : also known as phytonadione , Vitamin K is needed in small quantities ( 10 mg / week ) to maintain the Prothrombin time (PT - is a blood test that measures how long it takes blood to clot) into it's normal range.It can be administrated orally or added to PN solution.

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