Home Parenteral Nutrition*

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Abstract
Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is the provision of parenteral nutrition (PN) in infants, children, and adults in a non-hospital setting. The goal of HPN is to achieve positive nitrogen balance, weight gain, and to improve clinical outcome in patients who do not have adequate gastrointestinal tract function. HPN has saved the lives of many patients who previously might have died with catastrophic gastrointestinal conditions. Since its inception almost 25 years ago, the use of HPN has increased tremendously, and it has become accepted as a useful supportive and therapeutic technique for a variety of gastrointestinal diseases and conditions. In the United States, it is estimated that there are over 19,000 patients on home parenteral nutrition. We have treated more than 1000 patients for 18 years with HPN for over 100,000 days of therapy. The mean patient days on HPN has been nearly 1000 days, and the longest period for any single patient has been well over 16 years. Half of the patients we are currently following have received parenteral support at home for 8 or more years. Many of our patients are infants and children.

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