Nutritional Shake for Postoperative Recovery
What You Need to Know Before You Apply
What is the purpose of this trial?
Older surgical patients commonly have malnutrition, and there is evidence these patients have increased risk for poor physical and brain recovery after surgery and anesthesia. There are scientific-based recommendations to provide nutritional supplements to support recovery. However, to date these recommendations do not address a broad group of nutrients likely to reverse common deficiencies. Team members have created a palatable, broad-spectrum and stable nutritional shake that we will give to patients after surgery. We propose to test the nutritional shake in frail older surgical patients at Dartmouth Health to determine if a nutrition shake provided after surgery improves recovery of physical function and cognitive abilities. Half the patients will receive the shake and the other will receive the standard of care postoperative nutritional instructions after surgery. We will collect information regarding physical function and cognitive abilities of all the patients while in the hospital and 90 days after surgery. We will use this data to apply for funding for a powered randomized trial to determine the role of nutrition in optimizing physical and cognitive recovery from surgery in older patients.
Who Is on the Research Team?
Stacie G Deiner, MD
Principal Investigator
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?
This trial is for patients aged 70 or older who are undergoing major orthopedic or abdominal surgery with a planned hospital stay of at least one night. It aims to help those at risk of malnutrition improve their physical and cognitive recovery post-surgery.Inclusion Criteria
What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?
Interventions
- Nutritional Shake
Trial Overview
The study tests a specially formulated nutritional shake against standard postoperative nutritional instructions. The goal is to see if the shake can enhance physical function and brain recovery in frail, older surgical patients.
How Is the Trial Designed?
2
Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
For the intervention arm, an unblinded study team member will deliver and review the Nutrition After Surgery and postoperative supplementation instructions with the participant. Additionally, an unblinded study team member will give each participant a 30-day supply of single-servings. They will be instructed to consume 1 packet per day for 30 days, reconstituted per instructions (see instructions file), after discharge from the hospital. The unblinded researchers will work with the coordinator team to provide participants with a plan for supplementation (normal or underweight participants) or meal replacement (overweight or obese patients). Participants will be instructed to keep track of their shake consumption on a daily basis. Shake consumption logs will be collected via REDCap surveys sent to participants and reviewed by the unblinded coordinators/investigators for adverse events and compliance.
The control arm receives the Nutrition After Surgery instructions, which provide guidelines for healthy eating after surgery but not the nutritional shake. The intervention arm receives the same instructions along with the nutrition shake mix and accompanying postoperative supplementation
Find a Clinic Near You
Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Lead Sponsor
Hitchcock Foundation
Collaborator
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