Development of liver dysfunction under artificial nutrition: a reason to modify nutrition therapy in the intensive care unit?

Actual research suggests that artificial nutrition in critically ill patients can be associated with alterations in liver dysfunction biomarkers such as enzymes and serum bilirubin. In addition to known patient-dependent and nutrient-dependent factors, the time of initiation of nutrition therapy seems to influence the risk of altered biomarkers, whereas age and gender, weight, range of clinical scores, type of primary diagnosis, necessity for mechanical ventilation, and the composition of the lipid emulsion used within total parenteral nutrition had no significant effects. This commentary analyzes these new results in the light of known relationships between illness and artificial nutrition therapy.