Intestinal failure is a complex disease that requires constant nutritional assessment and nutritional therapy. Home parenteral nutrition, which provides sufficient nutrients and fluids is a crucial therapeutical practice in patients with chronic intestinal failure. Regular body composition measurments are therefore essential in the assessment of patients. In this masters thesis we compared two different bioimpedance analysis devices, Quadscan 4000 and Multiscan 5000 – first one being a multifrequency bioimpedance device, measuring at 5, 50, 100 and 200 kHz and the second one being a bioimpedance spectroscopy device which operates at 50 different frequencies between 5 and 1000 kHz. We assessed hydration and nutritional status of patients with intestinal failure, treated with home parenteral nutrition. Our main findings were that both devices can offer comparable measurments, but there are some major differences. Multiscan 5000, proved to be a better indicator of malnutrition when phase angles were compared and when blood urea and creatinine were compared. Both devices were similarly reliable at indicating malnourished patients according to GLIM criteria for malnutrition. We conclude that with a multimodal approach in the assessment of patients with chronic intestinal failure, both devices can be a usefull tool for monitoring of dehydration and malnutrition.
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