Nutrition in the surgical patient

Abstract

Nutrition plays a vital role in wound healing and collagen maturation, and it boosts the energy reserves of the body. The combination of infection and injury (surgery or trauma) particularly predisposes to malnutrition. These additional stresses inhibit the ketotic response to starvation and encourage the preferential mobilization of muscle protein. The immune response to infection also becomes downregulated and T cell, B cell and macrophage function deteriorates.