Open AccessImplications of preoperative hypoalbuminemia in colorectal surgery
Author(s) -
Adam Truong,
Mark Hanna,
Zhobin Moghadamyeghaneh,
Michael J. Stamos
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
world journal of gastrointestinal surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1948-9366
DOI - 10.4240/wjgs.v8.i5.353
Subject(s) - hypoalbuminemia , medicine , enterocutaneous fistula , parenteral nutrition , colorectal surgery , malnutrition , surgery , fistula , thrombosis , enteral administration , intensive care medicine , abdominal surgery , general surgery
Serum albumin has traditionally been used as a quantitative measure of a patient's nutritional status because of its availability and low cost. While malnutrition has a clear definition within both the American and European Societies for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition clinical guidelines, individual surgeons often determine nutritional status anecdotally. Preoperative albumin level has been shown to be the best predictor of mortality after colorectal cancer surgery. Specifically in colorectal surgical patients, hypoalbuminemia significantly increases the length of hospital stay, rates of surgical site infections, enterocutaneous fistula risk, and deep vein thrombosis formation. The delay of surgical procedures to allow for preoperative correction of albumin levels in hypoalbuminemic patients has been shown to improve the morbidity and mortality in patients with severe nutritional risk. The importance of preoperative albumin levels and the patient's chronic inflammatory state on the postoperative morbidity and mortality has led to the development of a variety of surgical scoring systems to predict outcomes efficiently. This review attempts to provide a systematic overview of albumin and its role and implications in colorectal surgery.