Early PN trial

When a critically ill patient cannot tolerate feeding delivered into the stomach, a special feeding solution (parenteral nutrition) is commonly given directly into the blood stream (intra-venous) to feed the patient. A recently published review of the literature suggested that lives could be saved if intra-venous feeding was provided earlier (within 24 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission) than it is currently provided. Because intra-venous feeding may be more expensive than standard care, we plan to conduct a multi-centre randomised controlled trial comparing the effects of early intra-venous feeding to standard care in patients who require at least two days of care in the intensive therapy unit. The trial will show whether earlier intra-venous feeding improves survival, reduces hospital length of stay and improves other measures of the patient's severity of illness.