A recent double-blind randomized study (A Repa et al. J Pediatr 2018; 194: 87-93) compared a mixed lipid emulsion (SMOFlipid) to a soybean-oil lipid in 223 extremely low birth weight infants. Median time on parenteral nutrition was ~23 days.

Key findings:

• The primary outcome of parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis (PNAC) was NOT significantly different in the two groups: 10.1% for SMOF and 15.9% for control group (P=.20).
• No other outcome measures were affected, including ROP, BPD and growth.

The authors note that even the control group had less cholestasis than previous cohorts and indicated that the use of probiotics and possibly more aggressive enteral feeds were at work.

My take (borrowed in part from authors): These results “cannot be generalized to infants with substantially longer time on PN.” However, this study shows that SMOFlipid alone will not prevent cholestasis, which is well-known to be multifactorial.

Sandy Springs