Which patients should receive nutritional support
and, in particular, what is the role of parenteral nutrition
in the injured patient? Unlike in elective general
surgery, wherein there has been considerable interest
in the indications for, and value of, nutritional support
(Studley, 1936; Rhoads and Alexander, 1955; Hill et
al., 1977; Mullen et al., 1979, 1980), accidental injury
remains a relatively unexplored area despite one or two
good publications on the subject (Kudsk et al., 1982).
This review examines the case for the use of nutritional
support in general, and parenteral nutrition in particular,
in the injured patient.