title: Nutritional Risk in Major Abdominal Surgery: Protocol of a Prospective Observational Trial to Evaluate the Prognostic Value of Different Nutritional Scores in Pancreatic Surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The influence of patients' preoperative nutritional status on their clinical outcome has already been proven. Therefore, patients with malnutrition are in need of additional therapeutic efforts. However, for pancreatic surgery, evidence suggesting the adequacy of existing nutritional assessment scores to estimate malnutrition associated with postoperative outcome is limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the observational trial "Nutritional Risk in Major Abdominal Surgery (NURIMAS) Pancreas" is to prospectively assess and analyze different nutritional assessment scores for their prognostic value on postoperative complications in patients undergoing pancreatic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients scheduled to receive elective pancreatic surgery at the University Hospital of Heidelberg will be screened for eligibility. Preoperatively, 12 nutritional assessment scores will be collected and patients will be assigned either at risk or not at risk for malnutrition. The postoperative course will be followed prospectively and complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification will be recorded. The prognostic value for complications will be evaluated for every score in a univariable and multivariable analysis corrected for known risk factors in pancreatic surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Final data analysis is expected to be available during Spring 2016.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The NURIMAS Pancreas trial is a monocentric, prospective, observational trial aiming to find the most predictive clinical nutritional assessment score for postoperative complications. Using the results of this protocol as a knowledge base, it is possible to conduct nutritional risk-guided intervention trials to prevent postoperative complications in the pancreatic surgical population.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  germanctr.de: DRKS00006340; https://drks-neu.uniklinik-freiburg.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00006340 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6bzXWSRYZ).
authors.affiliation: University of Heidelberg, Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0895-4015
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4410-7830
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haller
authors.forename: Colette
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1155-7336
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dörr-Harim
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9342-3456
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bruckner
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1469-2186
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: Thilo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7012-1196
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hackert
authors.forename: Markus K
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0319-3090
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Diener
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7776-4653
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knebel
keywords: Diagnosis Related Group system; malnutrition; nutritional assessment; nutritional score; pancreatic surgery