REPORT ON THE FIRST ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOME PARENTERAL-NUTRITION IN JAPAN

An annual survey of the current national status of home parenteral nut rition (HPN) in Japan was begun in 1991, with a total of 231 registere d patients from 142 institutions providing adequate data for evaluatio n and analysis, HPN was given for an average of 683 +/- 764 days to 93 patients with malignant diseases and 138 with benign disease, includi ng 53 with inflammatory bowel disease and 79 with short bowel syndrome , 107 (46.3%) of whom were successfully rehabilitated, By the end of 1 990, 61% of the patients investigated were still on HPN, 7% had alread y completed HPN, and 26% had died, the deceased accounting for 54% of the patients with malignant diseases and 7% of those with benign disea ses, A total of 321 catheters had been used by all 231 patients, the m ost common being the subcutaneously implanted type, accounting for 33% of all catheters, By the end of 1990, 32% of these 321 catheters were still in place, 18% had been removed on the termination of HPN and 44 % had been removed due to complications of total parenteral nutrition, including 20% for catheter fever, Rehospitalization was required in 6 2% of the patients, the cause being HPN-related in 21% of the total pa tients, Metabolic complications were experienced by 60% of the patient s, but none of these were severe although 6% required hospitalization, Thus, the total population of HPN patients and the success rate of re habilitation in Japan were close to those reported in Europe, while th e indications for HPN and its outcome were similar to those documented in the USA OASIS report, except that the incidence of rehospitalizati on from HPN-related causes in the Japanese survey was lower.