Skip to main content
  • Meeting abstract
  • Open access
  • Published:

Parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis

Parenteral nutrition (PN) is life saving for many preterm infants and other neonates with severe illness, but prolonged use of PN can lead to intrahepatic cholestasis, referred to as parenteral nutrition–associated cholestasis (PNAC). It is defined as direct bilirubin greater than 2.0 mg/dL persistent for at least 2 consecutive tests duringthe administration of PN, not associated with other known causes of cholestasis [1–3].

With the increasing survival of preterm infants and neonates requiring intensive care, PNAC has become a more common clinical challenge. The incidence of PNAC varywidely depending on the population studied, with high incidencein populations carrying several risk factors for PNAC. It increases with duration of PN and ranges from 10% to 85% in infants [4–8].

A multifactorial aetiology has been proposed for the development of PNAC. Recognized risk factors for PNAC include low birth weight, low gestational age, necrotizing enterocolitis, intestinal malformations, and intestinal surgery. A further risk factor is the occurrence ofsevere infections, due to the requirement for central line for infusion of PN, and bacterial overgrowth caused by enteralstarvation and immature immune function[9–13].

However, exposure to PN is demonstratedas the main factor in the development of PNAC. Intravenous hyper-alimentationhas been implicated, such as thetotal caloric overload, the quality of aminoacid solutions, the cumulative amount and the quality of lipid infusion, the presence of excessivealuminium in the PN solution, and the high manganese intake with PN [1, 14–17].

Ursodeoxycholic acid, cyclic PN, light protection for PN, tapering the soybean-based lipid emulsion, and antibiotics to decontaminate bacterial overgrowth are used to treat PNAC [18–21].

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the lipid content in PN. It has been found that fish oil–containing lipid emulsions could be useful in infants to reverse PNAC for whom enteral feeding is intolerable. However, no evidence supports the use of fish oil–containing lipid emulsions to prevent PNAC in neonates, including preterm infants [22].

Enteral feeding remains the best strategy to reverse and prevent PNAC, with as little as 10% of caloric intake showing beneficial effects [5, 22].

References

  1. Kubota A, Okada A, Nezu R, Kamata S, Imura K, Takagi Y: Hyperbilirubinemia in neonates associated with total parenteral nutrition. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1988, 12: 602-606. 10.1177/0148607188012006602.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Teitelbaum DH: Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis. Curr Opin Pediatr. 1997, 9: 270-275. 10.1097/00008480-199706000-00016.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. McLin VA, Balistreri WF: Approach to neonatal cholestasis. Pediatric gastrointestinal disease. Edited by: Walker WA, Goulet O, Kleinman RE, Sherman PM, Shneider BL, Sanderson IR. 2004, Ontario, Canada: B. C. Decker, 2: 1079-1093. 4th ed

    Google Scholar 

  4. de Meijer VE, Gura KM, Le HD, Meisel JA, Puder M: Fish oil-based lipid emulsions prevent and reverse parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease: the Boston experience. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2009, 33: 541-547. 10.1177/0148607109332773.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Costa S, Maggio L, Sindico P, Cota F, De Carolis MP, Romagnoli C: Preterm small for gestational age infants are not at higher risk for parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis. J Pediatr. 2010, 156: 575-579. 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.10.038.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Xu ZW, Li YS: Pathogenesis and treatment of parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease. Hepatobiliary Pancreat Dis Int. 2012, 11: 586-593. 10.1016/S1499-3872(12)60229-X.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Angsten G, Finkel Y, Lucas S, Kassa AM, Paulsson M, Lilja HE: Improved outcome in neonatal short bowel syndrome using parenteral fish oil in combination with omega-6/9 lipid emulsions. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2012, 36: 587-955. 10.1177/0148607111430507.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Nandivada P, Carlson SJ, Chang MI, Cowan E, Gura KM, Puder M: Treatment of parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease: the role of lipid emulsions. Adv Nutr. 2013, 4: 711-717. 10.3945/an.113.004770.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kaufman SS, Gondolesi GE, Fishbein TM: Parenteral nutrition associatedliver disease. Sem Neonatol. 2003, 8: 375-381. 10.1016/S1084-2756(03)00094-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Drongowski RA, Coran AG: An analysis of factors contributing to thedevelopment of total parenteral nutrition-induced cholestasis. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1989, 13: 586-589. 10.1177/0148607189013006586.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kelly DA: Liver complications of pediatric parenteral nutrition-epidemiology. Nutrition. 1998, 14: 153-157. 10.1016/S0899-9007(97)00232-3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Kaufman SS, Gondolesi GE, Fishbein TM: Parenteral nutrition associatedliver disease. Semin Neonatol. 2003, 8: 375-581. 10.1016/S1084-2756(03)00094-0. (Nota bibliografica ripetuta due volte: vedi num. 9),

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Moss RL, Das JB, Raffensperger JG: Necrotizingenterocolitis andtotal parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis. Nutrition. 1996, 12: 340-343. 10.1016/S0899-9007(96)80057-8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wright K, Ernst KD, Gaylord MS, Dawson JP, Burnette TM: Increasedincidence of parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis with AminosynPF compared to Trophamine. J Perinatol. 2003, 23: 444-450. 10.1038/sj.jp.7210965.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Shin JI, Namgung R, Park MS, Lee C: Could lipid infusion be a risk forparenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis in low birth weight neonates?. Eur J Pediatr. 2008, 167: 197-202. 10.1007/s00431-007-0454-7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Von Stockhausen HB, Schrod L, Bratter P, Rosick U: Aluminium loadingin premature infants during intensive care as related to clinical aspects. J Trace Elem Electrolytes Health Dis. 1990, 4: 209-213.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Fok TF, Chui KKM, Cheung R, Ng PC, Cheung KL, Hjelm M: Manganese intake and cholestatic jaundice in neonates receiving parenteralnutrition: a randomized controlled study. Acta Pediatr. 2001, 90: 1009-1015. 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2001.tb01356.x.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Chien-Yi Chen, Po-Nien Tsao, Huey-Ling Chen, Hung-Chieh Chou, Wu-Shiun Hsieh, Mei-Hwei Chang: Ursodeoxycholic acid (udca) therapy in very-low-birthweight Infants with parenteral nutrition associated Cholestasis. J Pediatr. 2004, 145: 317-321. 10.1016/j.jpeds.2004.05.038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Thibault M, McMahon J, Faubert G, Charbonneau J, Malo J, Ferreira E, Mohamed I: Parenteral nutrition-associated liver disease: a retrospective study of ursodeoxycholic Acid use in neonates. J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 2014, 19: 42-48.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Miloudi K, Comte B, Rouleau T, Montoudis A, Levy E, Lavoie JC: The mode of administration of total parenteral nutrition and nature of lipid content influence the generation of peroxides and aldehydes. Clin Nutr. 2012, 31: 526-534. 10.1016/j.clnu.2011.12.012.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Carter BA, Karpen SJ: Intestinal failure-associated liver disease: management and treatment strategies past, present, and future. Semin Liver Dis. 2007, 27: 251-258. 10.1055/s-2007-985070.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Park HW, Lee NM, Kim JH, Kim KS, Kim SN: Parenteral fish oil-containing lipid emulsions may reverse parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis in neonates: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Nutr. 2015, 145: 277-283. 10.3945/jn.114.204974.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simonetta Costa.

Rights and permissions

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Costa, S., Barone, G., Catenazzi, P. et al. Parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis. Ital J Pediatr 41 (Suppl 1), A4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-41-S1-A4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-41-S1-A4

Keywords