The Efficacy of Early Postoperative Enteral Immunonutrition on T-lymphocyte Count: A Randomised Control Study in Low-Risk Cardiac Surgery Patients

Summary Background Patients undergoing cardiac surgery have a pronounced immune response that leads to a reduction in cellular immunity. Immune-modulating nutritional supplements are considered to be beneficial for patients undergoing major surgery. However, due to the lack of studies in the cardiac surgery population, the effect of immunonutrition remains unclear in this patient group. Objective Our purpose was to research the efficacy of early postoperative enteral immunonutrition on T-lymphocyte count in the cardiac surgery population. Methods This was a randomised control study of low operative risk adult patients, who underwent elective cardiac surgery. These patients were randomised into immunonutrition and control groups. The immunonutrition group was supplemented with immune nutrients for five postoperative days. The counts of T-lymphocytes, as well as the counts for the CD4+ and CD8+ cell subpopulations were determined on the day of surgery and on the sixth postoperative day. Results Fifty-five patients were enrolled in the study, the mean age was 69.7 ± 6.3 years, 28 (50.9 %) of them were males, the median operative risk was 1.75%. Twenty-seven (49.1%) were randomised into the immunonutrition group. The control and the immunonutrition groups were similar before the intervention. The counts of the CD3+ T cells and CD4+ T cells on the sixth postoperative day were significantly higher in the immunonutrition group compared to the control group with 1.42 ± 0.49 vs. 1.12 ± 0.56 (*109/l), p = 0.035 and 1.02 ± 0.36 vs. 0.80 ± 0.43 (*109/l), p = 0.048, respectively. Regression analysis was performed to determine the efficacy of the immunonutrition on the counts of the CD3+ and CD4+ T cells; CD3+ T and CD4+ T cell counts were increased to 0.264 (*109/l), p = 0.039 and 0.232 (*109/l), p = 0.021, respectively. Conclusions Early postoperative immunonutrition increases the count of the CD3+ and CD4+ T cells in cardiac surgical patients.