Nutrition therapy plays significant roles in the recovery process after an organ transplant. In the article, “Customized nutrition intervention and personalized counseling help achieve nutrition targets in perioperative liver transplant patients,” the authors explored the input of nutritional intervention and personalized care on the recovery process (Daphnee et al, 2018). The research team included people with an authoritative voice in their specialties: Daphnee DK, Rajalakshmi P and Bhuvaneshwari S (Department of Dietetics, Apollo Hospitals); John S (Women’s Christian College, Chennai); and Vaidya A, Khakhar A and Ramamurthy A (Department of Liver Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals). To assess the impact of the intervention plan on the nutritional status of patients diagnosed with the end-stage liver disease, the study used a prospective observational study of patients above the age of 18 enrolled in the liver transplantation program. Nutritional intervention and customized dietary counseling intervention provided was based on the degree of malnutrition. To evaluate the outcome, the impact nutritional adequacy scores, disease severity, Body Mass Index (BMI), nutritional status and demographic characteristics on the intervention were recorded. The research concluded that early diagnosis, customization, and stratification of follow-up on nutrition therapy led to the better achievement of nutritional targets with much ease. Analysis of the data based on patient demographics indicated that strenuous factors could affect the success of the program.
The sample population was limited to patients who have undergone liver transplant thus limiting the applicability of the study to a wider patient population. Nevertheless, the theoretical framework upon which the study is based allowed the researchers to answer pertinent questions regarding the use of customized nutritional intervention in the healing process. The study findings can potentially affect policy formulation on the appropriate clinical standard of nutritional care for recovering patients.
- Daphnee, D., John, S., Rajalakshmi, P., Vaidya, A., Khakhar, A., Bhuvaneshwari, S., & Ramamurthy, A. (2018). Customized nutrition intervention and personalized counseling help achieve nutrition targets in perioperative liver transplant patients. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, 23, 200-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clnesp.2017.09.014