Lipid clearance and total parenteral nutrition: the importance of monitoring plasma lipids.

Lipid provides two major advantages for total parenteral nutrition (TPN). First, it provides essential fatty acids, thus avoiding essential fatty acid deficiency, and secondly, it is a useful energy source, providing 9 kcal/g. However, we describe a patient who had TPN containing Intralipid, where problems of lipid clearance developed. We also review the literature of lipid clearance problems in TPN patients and suggest ways by which such problems can be managed. We suggest that patients taking TPN should have their plasma lipids (triacylglycerols) measured before and during TPN initiation. This is particularly important in patients who are at high risk of impaired fat clearance, such as those who are hyperlipidemic, diabetic, septic, or with impaired renal or hepatic function, or those who are critically ill.