Parenteral nutrition with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on nutrition inflammatory and immune status of gastrointestinal cancer patients: Meta-analysis.

Background: The incidence of malignant tumors in the digestive system is increasing and is a threat to human health. However, the long duration from tumor detection to radical resection, stress responses due to surgical trauma, and insufficient nutritional intake increases the risk of malnutrition, immune function reduction, postoperative complications, and intestinal dysfunction among patients.

Aim: To systematically investigate the association of parenteral nutrition enriched with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with the nutritional status of patients after gastrointestinal treatment.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials associated with PUFA-enriched parenteral nutrition administration in patients with digestive system malignancies were retrieved from online databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, China Knowledge Network, China VIP, Wanfang, and China Biomedical Literature Database, with the retrieval time from database inception to present. Two researchers independently extracted data. Each article's bias risk was assessed by referring to the Cochrane Handbook version 5.3 criteria and RevMan5.4 was used for data analysis.

Results: This meta-analysis involved six randomized controlled trials involving a total of 505 cases. Random-effects model analysis indicated remarkably better improvements in various inflammatory factors in the study group (P < 0.05). Meta-analysis of nutritional indicators revealed that the study group had higher total protein, albumin, and prealbumin levels, as well as lower transferrin levels compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, meta-analysis of T-cell subsets revealed no remarkable inter-group difference in post-treatment CD8⁺ cells (P > 0.05). Moreover, the meta-analysis identified a notably lower incidence of adverse reactions in the study group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Administration of PUFAs helps improve the nutritional status of patients with digestive malignancies in the perioperative period. It promotes immune function recovery, reduces the inflammatory response, and decreases the risk of adverse effects. These beneficial effects make it worth investigating and promoting their use in appropriate patient populations. However, further validation via high-quality studies with long intervention time and extended follow-up periods is required.