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Background: Up to 30-40% of the patients starting artificial nutritional support develop hypophosphatemia. In general, patients with mild and moderate hypophosphatemia do not have symptoms, but severe hypophosphatemia is the hallmark of refeeding syndrome., Aim: To determine the incidence of hypophosphatemia in not critically ill patients receiving enteral feeding., Material and Methods: Prospective study. We assessed during seven days 181 not critically ill patients started on enteral artificial nutrition support during seven days., Results: 51.9% of the patients were considered to be at risk of developing refeeding syndrome (United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence criteria). The incidence of hypophosphatemia was 31.5%, but only 1.1% of the patients developed severe hypophosphatemia. Older age and lower plasma proteins were significantly associated with hypophosphatemia., Conclusion: The incidence of severe hypophosphatemia in our study is low, so we can't offer robust conclusions about the risk of hypophosphatemia in the type of patients receiving enteral nutrition.

Background: Elder people suffer physiological changes and illnes that increase the risk of malnutrition. Nutritional status is a major prognosis factor in older people. This study is aimed at estimating the prevalence of malnutrition among the population of 65 and over inpatients as much at admission as at discharge., Methods: We conducted a transversal observational study. 174 consecutive inpatients were examined using Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) and Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) in the first 48 hours from admission. Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) was applied to cancer patients. All patients were submitted the NRS-2002 at discharge., Results: 29.31% of patients were at malnutrition risk according to the results of NRS-2002 at admission. This percentage increased up to 57.89% at discharge. The MNA-SF revealed nutritional alteration in 70.35% (54.65% with malnutrition risk, 15.7% with malnutrition). The NRS-2002 showed that 34.14% of cancer patients presented with nutritional risk; however, according to PG-SGA 56.41% of the cases presented with malnutrition to a certain extent (46.15% with moderate malnutrition and 10.26% with serious malnutrition). There are different groups of patients (older patients, transferred from emergency department, patients with heart failure) who present higher risk of nutritional deterioration while they are hospitalised (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: There is a very high percentage of 65 and over patients at nutritional risk in our centre, as much at admission as at discharge. It is necessary to install a systematic screening of the nutritional status., (Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.)

Background: Malnutrition is a frequent issue in our hospitals, and it is associated with an increase in morbi- mortality and financial costs, together with a decline in the patients' quality of life. This study is aimed at establishing the prevalence of malnutrition in our health centre, as much at admission as at discharge., Methods: Transversal observational study assessing 277 adult patients, who were admitted consecutively, and applying the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) in the first 48 hours from admission and then again at discharge. Cancer patients were also submitted the Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) was applied to the population of 65 and over., Results: 32.49% of patients were at malnutrition risk according to the results of NRS-2002 at admission. This percentage increased up to 40.98% at discharge. The NRS-2002 showed that 31.15% of cancer patients presented with nutritional risk; however, according to VGS-GP, 52.54% of the cases presented with nutritional risk to a certain extent (38.98% with moderate malnutrition and 13.56% with serious malnutrition). Among patients aged 65 and over, 29.31% were considered at risk according to the NRS-2002; the MNA-SF revealed nutritional alteration in 70.35% (54.65% with malnutrition risk, 15.7% with malnutrition). There are different groups of patients: 65 years old and over, transferred from the emergency department, multi-medicated, cancer patients and patients with heart failure, who present with a higher risk of nutritional deterioration at admission (p<0.05)., Conclusions: There is a very high percentage of patients at nutritional risk in our centre, as much at admission as at discharge. It is therefore necessary to install a systematic screening of the nutritional status for all inpatients., (Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and degree of malnutrition among patients with cancer who were sent to an Oncological Nutrition visit., Material and Methods: It is an observational crosssectional descriptive study. First nutrition visit data of all patientes aged ≥ 18 with cancer who were evaluated from march of 2008 to february of 2012 were used. A total of 997 patients were studied using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment., Results: 69% of the patients had lost more than 5% of their usual weight within the previous 3 months, the patients with the highest frequency of weight loss were those with digestive cancer. Eating problems were encountered by the 81.2% of the patients, the most frequent problem being anorexia (53.3%) and the median number of symptoms was 3. Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment shows a malnutrition prevalence of 72.9% (29.9% with moderate malnutrition and 43% with severe malnutrition). Malnutrition was related to the type of cancer and the stage of the disease and was not related to age, gender neither usual body mass index., Conclusions: Malnutrition prevalence among patients who were evaluated in our consulting-room is high. Nutritional evaluation is very important to detect patients at risk of malnutrition or with malnutrition and helps to choose the nutritional treatment., (Copyright © AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2013. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.)

Wilkie syndrome is an unusual form of high gastrointestinal obstruction resulting from compression of the duodenum between the abdominal aorta and the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). The conditions that cause this syndrome can be classified into five categories: severe wasting diseases, severe injuries, diseases, deformity or trauma to the spine, dietary disorders and posoperative state. The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, distention postprandrial, epigastric pain and weight loss. Barium meal and arteriography were used as diagnostic tools, now CT-angiography is being used and shown higher diagnostic sensitivity. The diagnostic criteria are: dilated duodenum, compression of the duodenum by the SMA and aortomesenteric angle <20 degrees. Patients with acute syndrome often respond to conservative treatment (decompression, correction of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance and nutrition support). Most of the patients with chronic syndrome require surgical intervention. Duodenojejunostomy is the most effective surgical option, with a success rate of 90%.