Liu P, Shen WQ, Chen HL, et al.
Journal of wound care. Date of publication 2017 Jun 2;volume 26(6):319-323.
1. J Wound Care. 2017 Jun 2;26(6):319-323. doi: 10.12968/jowc.2017.26.6.319.
Efficacy of arginine-enriched enteral formulas for the healing of pressure
ulcers: a systematic review.
Liu P(1), Shen WQ(1), Chen HL(1).
Author information:
(1)Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu,
PR China.
OBJECTIVE: Arginine improves healing and modulates inflammation and the immune
response. This systematic review aimed to assess the effect of arginine-enriched
enteral formulas in pressure ulcer (PU) healing.
METHOD: Systematic computerised searches of PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus,
ENTRAL and CINAHL databases were performed from their inception to 20 January
2016. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included in this systematic
review. We used the Jadad scale as a quality assessment tool.
RESULTS: There were seven RCTs with 369 patients included in this systematic
review; four RCTs assessed healing by PU area reduction. All of them reported
arginine-enriched enteral nutrition led to a significant improved PU healing
compared with standard hospital diet in 2-12 weeks follow-up. Among these four
RCTs, one enrolled malnourished patients, one enrolled non-malnourished patients,
and the other two studies did not restrict the nutritional status of the
patients. Using the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) four RCTs assessed
healing of PU, all reporting arginine-enriched enteral nutrition resulted in a
significant PUSH score improvement compared with control at follow-up. Using the
Pressure Sore Status Tool (PSST) one RCT assessed healing of PUs, finding
patients receiving arginine had the lowest PSST scores compared with controls. An
RCT compared healing with two doses of arginine (4.5g versus 9g), but no
difference was found between the doses.
CONCLUSION: Evidence showed that arginine-enriched enteral nutrition led to a
significant improvement in PU healing. It was effective not only in malnourished
patients, but also in non-malnourished patients.
DOI: 10.12968/jowc.2017.26.6.319
PMID: 28598762
