American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 6, 472-478, Copyright © 1958 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Recent Advances in Intravenous Fat Alimentation

¹ From the Department of Medicine, University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati General Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio

It would appear that the presently available fat emulsion is a safe and practical product for short-term administration. However, if it is to be used for repeated and long-term therapy, the possibility of the development of the described febrile syndrome should be appreciated. As yet no test is known which will alert the clinician to its imminence. The advisability of intermittent rather than persistent therapy is suggested.

There are many problems yet to be met in the general field. The present phosphatide-stabilized emulsion is unstable to electrolytes or amino acids so that a "complete" emulsion is not feasible. Non-phosphatide emulsions prepared with synthetic emulsifiers are stable to these supplements but as yet are attended with high reaction rates in humans.¹¹ In addition, lipomul is "broken" by freezing so that emulsions resistant to environmental extremes would be desirable. Dehydrated preparations have been studied and their development will be watched with interest.