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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2001;286:1704.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Cardiac surgery is riskier for elderly patients and those with poor ventricular function, but giving such patients an immune-enhancing nutritional supplement could improve outcome, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Lancet. 2001;358:696-701).

In the prospective, randomized controlled trial, 50 patients were given a placebo or an oral immune-enhancing supplement containing L-arginine, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and yeast RNA for at least 5 days. Patients were aged 70 years or older, had a left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 0.44, or were scheduled to undergo mitral valve replacement.

Patients who received the supplement showed signs of improved preoperative host defenses (as measured by delayed-type hypersensitivity response to recall antigens and expression of HLA-DR epitopes on monocytes). Also, such patients were significantly less likely to have a postoperative infection (four [17%] who received the supplement had an infection vs . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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