ABSTRACT
Although parenteral nutrition (PN) provides the essential «uid, electrolytes, and nutrients essential to sustain life in patients with intestinal failure, it is also associated with potential life-threatening complications such as infection, loss of central venous line sites, and PN-associated liver disease (see Chapters 20 and 21). This stark reality has prompted the development of new therapeutic approaches aimed at improving enteral feeding tolerance to limit the duration and dependence on PN therapy while still ensuring adequate nutrition to support a good quality of life. However, due to the diversity of clinical characteristics in this complex and heterogeneous patient population, the management of intestinal failure still remains largely individualized and requires an understanding of normal gastrointestinal physiology and the changes in gastrointestinal morphology and function anticipated in the setting of disease or following surgical resection.
