The effects of an anabolic steroid and peripherally administered intravenous nutrition in the early postoperative period.

JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1989 Jul-Aug;13(4):349-58.

The effects of an anabolic steroid and peripherally administered intravenous
nutrition in the early postoperative period.

Hansell DT, Davies JW, Shenkin A, Garden OJ, Burns HJ, Carter DC.

University Department of Surgery, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Sixty patients undergoing colorectal surgery for malignancy were randomized to
receive the anabolic steroid stanozolol (n = 30) or to a control group (n = 30).
Patients were further randomized to receive on the first 4 postoperative days a)
a standard dextrose-saline regimen (DS), b) an amino acid regimen (AA), or c) a
glucose-amino acid-fat regimen (GAF) via a peripheral vein. Fat and carbohydrate
oxidation rates were calculated pre- and postoperatively using indirect
calorimetry. Postoperative nitrogen balance (NB) in patients receiving amino
acids was significantly improved (p less than 0.02) by the administration of
stanozolol. Fat and carbohydrate oxidation rates were not significantly affected
by stanozolol. Patients in the stanozolol and control AA groups showed a fall in
carbohydrate oxidation (p less than 0.01) and a rise in fat oxidation (p less
than 0.05) postoperatively, whereas no significant changes in fat and
carbohydrate oxidation occurred in the two DS and two GAF groups. Cumulative NB
for the first 4 postoperative days was significantly better (p less than 0.01) in
the two AA groups than in the two DS groups, due to an improved NB in the two AA
groups on the 1st and 2nd days only. Cumulative NB in the two GAF groups was
significantly better (p less than 0.01) than in all the other groups. This study
shows that stanozolol improves postoperative NB in patients receiving amino acids
alone, whereas the provision of a more complete nutritional regimen containing
glucose, amino acids, and fat results in a positive NB unaffected by stanozolol.