Omega-3 fatty acids improve liver and pancreas functions and thus significantly faster recovery in post operative cancer patients, seen from double-blind randomised study. Article update 23 april 2012
2 november 2004: source: Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 10; 111 (4): 611-6.Omega-3 fatty acids improve liver and pancreas function in postoperative cancer patients.
Heller AR, Rossel T, B, R, Menschikowski M, Gottschlich Tiebel Litz RJ, Zimmermann T, Koch T. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, University of Technology, Dresden, Germany. axel.heller@uniklinikum-dresden.de
Epidemiologic studies have indicated that high intake of saturated fat and/or animal fat increases the risk of colon and breast cancer. Omega-3 PUFAs in fish oil (FO) can inhibit the growth of human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. These effects are related to the uptake or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) into the cellular substrate arachidonic acid metabolism with pool and their competitive (AA) at the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase-5 levels. The EPA and DHA have less inflammatory and metabolites or immunosuppressant potency than the substances derived from AA. Based on previous experimental data, we hypothesized that FO supplementation after major abdominal cancer surgery would improve hepatic and pancreatic function.
Ours was a prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial on 44 patients undergoing elective major abdominal surgery, randomly assigned to receive total parenteral nutrition (TPN) supplemented with either soybean oil (SO 1.0 g/kg body weight daily, n = 20) for 5 days or a combination of FO and SO (FO 0.2 + 0.8 g/kg body weight daily, SO n = 24). Compared to pure SO supplementation in the postoperative period, FO significantly reduced ASAT [0.8 +/-0.1 vs. 0.5 +/-0.1 mmol/(l. sec)], ALAT [0.9 +/-0.1 vs. 0.6 +/-0.1 mmol/(l. sec)], bilirubin (16.1 +/-5.3 vs. 6.9 +/-0.6 mmol/l), LDH (4.8 +/-0.4 +/-0.4 mmol/vs. 6.7 (l. sec) and lipase (0.6 +/-0.1 vs. 0.4 +/-0.1 micromol/(l. sec) in the postoperative course. Moreover, patients with increased risk of sepsis (IL-6/IL-10 ratio > 8) showed a tendency to longer ICU stay (18 hr) under omega-3 PUFA treatment. Weight loss as encountered after the SO emulsion or 1.1 +/-2.2 kg was absent in the FO group. After major abdominal tumor surgery, liver and pancreas function supplementation improved FO, which might have contributed to the faster recovery of patients. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
