Introduction

Temporary clamping of the hepatoduodenal ligament (the Pringle manoeuvre) is the most commonly used method to prevent intraoperative blood loss in liver surgery. Some side effects of the Pringle manoeuvre (PM) can occur.

Aim

To investigate the effectiveness of preoperative immunonutritional support to prevent bacterial translocation (BT) in rats due to PM.

Material and methods

Forty Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into four groups. Groups 1 and 2 were fed with normal rat diet and water, and groups 3 and 4 were fed with enteral immunonutrition (Impact Glutamine) containing 1 g/kg/day amino acid in the preoperative period. Group 1 (n = 10) and 4 (n = 10) rats were treated only with laparotomy; group 2 (n = 10) and 3 (n = 10) rats were treated with PM for 30 min with laparotomy. After 30 min, relaparotomy was applied to all groups and portal blood, mesentery, spleen samples were taken for culture purposes.

Results

Proliferation in portal blood cultures was significantly higher in the samples from the normally fed group (group 2) in whom PM was applied, compared to the other groups (p < 0.001). No proliferation was observed in the PM-treated group (group 3), who also received preoperative immunonutritional support.

Conclusions

Preoperative immunonutritional support is effective in the prevention of BT due to PM in rats.