The Effects of an Anabolic Steroid and Peripherally Administered Intravenous Nutrition in the Early Postoperative Period

Sixty patients undergoing colorectal surgery for malignancy were randomized to receive the anabolic steroid stanozolol (n = 30) or to a control group (n = 30). Patients were further randomized to receive on the first 4 postoperative days a) a standard dextrose-saline regimen (DS), b) an amino acid regimen (AA), or c) a glucose-amino acid-fat regimen (GAF) via a peripheral vein. Fat and carbohydrate oxidation rates were calculated pre- and postoperatively using indirect calorimetry. Postoperative nitrogen balance (NB) in patients receiving amino acids was significantly improved (p < 0.02) by the administration of stanozolol. Fat and carbohydrate oxidation rates were not significantly affected by stanozolol. Patients in the stanozolol and control AA groups showed a fall in carbohydrate oxidation (p < 0.01) and a rise in fat oxidation (p < 0.05) postoperatively, whereas no significant changes in fat and carbohydrate oxidation occurred in the two DS and two GAF groups. Cumulative NB for the first 4 postoperat...