2021 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 36-42
Purpose: The wound healing effect of the specialized amino acid supplement containing CaHMB, L-arginine and L-glutamine (Abound®) has been reported. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of Abound® in patients with thoracic esophageal carcinoma in the perioperative period.
Methods: Eighty-five patients who underwent esophagectomy for thoracic esophageal carcinoma between January 2012 and April 2020 were included. Postoperative infectious complications were evaluated between those patients who received Abound® for 7 days before surgery (n=43) and those who did not (controls, n=42).
Results: Among the 73 male and 12 female patients (median age 67 years, range 41-81 years) stage I disease was found in 32 patients, stage II in 13, stage III in 37, and stage Iva in 3. Baseline characteristics between two groups were balanced. Of the 85 patients, 29 (34.1%) had postoperative infectious complications:anastomotic leakage occurred in 1 and 8 patients (2.3% vs 19% ; p=0.012) in the Abound® and control groups, respectively, pneumonia occurred in 7 and 17 patients (16.3% vs 40.5% ; p=0.013), and wound infection occurred in 0 and 3 patients (0% vs 7.1% ; p=0.074). The rates of anastomotic leakage and pneumonia were significantly lower in the Abound® group than in the control group.
Conclusions: Abound® has the potential to reduce the incidence of infectious complications and improve outcome following esophageal cancer surgery.
