None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Patients admitted to RGH for a lower-limb amputation will be invited to participate in a study investigating the effect of a diet that is enriched with arginine on the time taken for the amputation wound to heal, and the time taken to have a prosthetic limb fitted. Participants will be allocated at random to receive either a standard hospital diet with 2 Arginine-enriched supplements or a standard hospital diet with 2 standard nutritional supplements, that are equal in energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. In addition to the time taken for the wound to heal, participants will also have their nutritional health measured via body weight, dietary intake and arm muscle stores. Quality of life will also be measured.
Interventions
Standard hospital diet plus two tetrapaks of a commercially available Arginie-enriched oral nutrition supplement (9g Arginine/day). The intervention will commence on entry to the study and will cease on the day that prosthetic casting occurs.
Sponsors
Flinders University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 100 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
All patients admitted to the Vascular unit at the Repatriation General Hospital for a trans-tibial or trans-femoral amputation.
Exclusion criteria
Patients who have not had a rigid removable dressing fitted within 24 hours of surgery. Patients receiving palliative care and ICU patients. Patients who are nil by mouth or who require enteral feeding or parenteral nutrition. Patients who are unable to fulfill the requirements of the study due to impaired cognition
Outcome results
None listed