Recent study results suggest that some post-surgery complications could be avoided in some critically ill patients by giving them the antioxidant vitamins C and E while they are in hospital. Dr Avery B Nathens of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues found that trauma patients who received the vitamins from the time of admission until the time of release from hospital spent less time in intensive care following surgery, were significantly less likely to have multiple organ failure, and also spent less time on a mechanical ventilator. Previous research has shown that patients admitted to intensive care tend to have lower blood levels of vitamins E and C, and lower blood levels of antioxidants have been linked with a increased risk of multiple organ failure. The authors conclude: “The lack of adverse effects, coupled with the minimal expense, supports that this combination is a reasonable therapeutic intervention in critically (ill) surgical patients.”
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Annals of Surgery 2003;236:814-822
