What is Intestinal Failure?

Intestinal failure occurs when your intestines cannot digest food and absorb the fluids, electrolytes and nutrients essential to live. Intestinal failure is most often caused by short bowel syndrome, a problem affecting people who have had half or more of their small intestine removed due to injury or surgery to treat conditions such as trauma or necrotizing enterocolitis. Intestinal failure also may be caused by digestive disorders, such as Crohn's disease or chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudoobstruction syndrome, which causes the bowel to malfunction.

If you have intestinal failure, you may receive all or most of your nutrients and calories intravenously through total parenteral nutrition (TPN). TPN is given through a catheter placed in the arm, groin, neck or chest. Patients on TPN may live for many years, but long-term use of TPN can result in serious complications, such as bone disorders, central venous catheter infections and liver disease. Our goal is to restore your intestinal function to minimize and ultimately eliminate the need for TPN. Unfortunately, not everyone can be weaned from TPN. In these cases, we work to optimize the use of TPN and decrease the risk of complications.