A Case of Protein Supplement Effect in Protein-Losing Enteropathy

The objective of this article is to report improvement of nutritional status by protein supplements in the patient with protein-losing enteropathy. The patient was a female whose age was 25 and underwent medical treatment of Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowl disease, after diagnosis of cryptogenic multifocal ulcerous enteritis. The weight was 33.3 kg (68% of IBW) in the severe underweight and suffered from ascites and subcutaneous edema with hypoalbuminemia (1.3 g/dL) at the time of hospitalization. The patient consumed food restrictively due to abdominal discomfort. Despite various attempts of oral feeding, the levels of calorie and protein intake fell into 40-50% of the required amount, which was 800-900 kcal/d (24-27 kcal/kg/d) for calorie and 34 g/d (1 g/kg/d) for protein. It was planned to supplement the patient with caloric supplementation (40-50 kcal/kg) and protein supplementation (2.5 g/kg) to increase body weight and improve hypoproteinemia. It was also planned to increase the level of protein intake slowly to target 55 g/d in about 2 weeks starting from 10 g/d and monitored kidney load with high protein supplementation. The weight loss was 1.0 kg when the patient was discharged from the hospital (hospitalization periods of 4 weeks), however, serum albumin was improved from 1.3 g/dL to 2.5 g/dL and there was no abdominal discomfort. She kept supplement of protein at 55 g/d for 5 months after the discharge from the hospital and kept it at 35 g/d for about 2 months and then 25 g/d. The body weight increased gradually from 32.3 kg (65% of IBW) to 44.0 kg (89% of IBW) by 36% for the period of F/u and serum albumin was kept above 2.8 g/dL without intravenous injection of albumin. The performance status was improved from 4 points of 'very tired' to 2 points of 'a little tired' out of 5-point scale measurement and the use of diuretic stopped from the time of 4th month after the discharge from the hospital owing to improvement in edema and ascites. During this period, the results of blood test such as BUN, Cr, and electrolytes were within the normal range. In conclusion, hypoproteinemia and weight loss were improved by increasing protein intake through utilization of protein supplements in protein-losing enteropathy.