Night home enteral nutrition as a novel enforced and physiologically effective nutrition therapy following total gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Enteral nutrition has been reported to be safe and effective in malnourished patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal surgery. In this study, we devised night home enteral nutrition (N-HEN) as a novel nutritional strategy and evaluated the efficacy in gastric cancer patients following total gastrectomy. Between January 2017 and March 2021, 24 patients were prospectively included in the protocol and supported by N-HEN for three postoperative months through a jejunostomy during the night (Elental:1200 kcal/day), and 22 patients without N-HEN were followed as a control group (CG). Body weight loss, nutritional indicators and tolerance to chemotherapy were evaluated. After 3 and 6 months, patients with N-HEN had significantly less body weight loss than CG (3 months P < 0.0001: N-HEN 4.0% vs. CG 15.2%, 6 months P < 0.0001: N-HEN 7.7% vs. CG 17.7%). Prealbumin was significantly higher in patients with N-HEN than CG after 3 and 6 months (3 months P < 0.0001, 6 months P = 0.0037). Albumin, total protein and hemoglobin, tended to be higher after 3 and 6 months in patients with N-HEN than CG, and total cholesterol after 6 months. Concerning the tolerance to adjuvant chemotherapy in Stage II–III patients, patients with N-HEN significantly had a higher completion rate (P = 0.0420: N-HEN 70% vs. CG 29%) and longer duration (P = 0.0313: N-HEN 458 days vs. CG 261 days) as planned. Continuous monitoring of blood glucose concentration in patients with N-HEN did not show nocturnal hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. N-HEN could be a novel enforced and physiologically effective nutritional strategy to support potentially malnourished patients following total gastrectomy.