Short bowel syndrome presenting with re-feeding syndrome in a Han Chinese patient: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Re-feeding syndrome is common in patients with long-term starvation. To the best of our knowledge this case is the first to report a patient with short bowel syndrome developing re-feeding syndrome 12 years after the bowel resection.


METHODS
A 33-year-old Chinese Han man underwent small bowel resection leaving only 40 cm of bowel, without an ileocecal valve, 12 years previously. At that time he was weaned from total parenteral nutrition and had a normal diet. He later developed features of severe malnutrition, and when parenteral nutrition was given, he developed re-feeding syndrome.


CONCLUSIONS
Although re-feeding syndrome is a common complication in patients with any kind of nutritional support, and known to us for many years, high risk patients still need more attention and monitoring. Re-feeding syndrome in this case was not only a macronutrients deficiency but also a micronutrient deficient, and prompt supplement therapy and organ function support proved to be successful.
Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, No 305 East Zhongshan Road, Nanjing 210002, P R China. drweimingzhu@yahoo.com.cn.
Ying
Y
Xie
Weiming
W
Zhu
Ning
N
Li
Jieshou
J
Li