Nutrition support is a necessary therapy for critically ill cardiac surgery patients. However, conclusive evidence for this population, consisting of well-conducted clinical trials is lacking. To clarify optimal strategies to improve outcomes, an international multidisciplinary group of 25 experts from different clinical specialties from Germany, Canada, Greece, USA and Russia discussed potential approaches to identify patients who may benefit from nutrition support, when best to initiate nutrition support, and the potential use of pharmaco-nutrition to modulate the inflammatory response to cardiopulmonary bypass. Despite conspicuous knowledge and evidence gaps, a rational nutritional support therapy is presented to benefit patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
Keywords: Cardiopulmonary bypass; Enteral nutrition; High-risk cardiac surgery; Nutrition risk stratification; Organ dysfunctions; Pharmaco-nutrition; Postoperative nutritional management; Supplemental parenteral nutrition; Systemic inflammatory response; Underfeeding.