EDMONd-Elemental Diet in bowel obstruction
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EDMONd – A feasibility study of Elemental Diet as an alternative to parenteral nutrition for patients with inoperable Malignant bowel Obstruction
IRAS ID
215192
Contact name
Agnieszka Michael
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Royal Surrey County Hospital
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to determine whether elemental diet (a type of drink that contains an elemental protein source known as amino acids) can be tolerated by patients with inoperable bowel blockage who can no longer eat and are only able to swallow small amount of fluid. The objective is to find out whether elemental diet (ED) can be used as an acceptable nutrition and whether it improves the quality of life.
Bowel blockage is a common complication in patients with ovarian cancer. Unfortunately when the cancer is advanced, this blockage can occur in many parts of the bowel therefore surgery is not possible. Every year in the UK there are around 7000 new cases of ovarian cancer and a very large proportion of patients develop bowel blockage, some publications report the rate as high as 50% . One way to feed patients with bowel blockage is through the veins; this is known as parenteral nutrition (PN) however PN is rarely used in UK. Patients with malignant bowel blockage are often able to swallow small amounts of liquid but if they have no PN they are only able to survive for 2-3 weeks and the psychological as well as physical impact on patients and the family are very distressing.
ED is a type of a drink which contains an elemental protein source known as amino acids. ED drinks are almost totally absorbed in the upper part of the bowel and therefore could be absorbed even in patients who have bowel blockage which usually develops lower down in the gut. If this study is successful and proves that ED can be tolerated and provide nutrition to patients with inoperable bowel blockage it will be a big step towards improving the quality of life at the final stage of cancer.REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/2079
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion