Comparison of the potential complications of prolonged total parenteral nutrition and erythromycin treatment between the oral erythromycin and the placebo group
| Clinical features or complication |
Oral erythromycin group (n=27) |
Placebo group (n=29) |
| QT interval before drug treatment (ms) | 0.37 (0.34–0.38) | 0.37 (0.34–0.40) |
| QT interval during drug treatment (ms) | 0.36 (0.35–0.40) | 0.38 (0.35–0.38) |
| Pyloric stenosis (n) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Septicaemia (no of episodes) | ||
| Gram positive bacteria | 7 | 4 |
| Gram negative bacteria | 3 | 3 |
| Fungi | 1 | 2 |
| Stool culture (Gram positive : Gram negative : fungi) | ||
| Immediately before drug treatment | 10 : 6 : 2 | 12 : 9 : 1 |
| During drug treatment | 13 : 6 : 3 | 11 : 14 : 1 |
| 4 weeks after drug treatment was stopped | 5 : 7 : 0 | 6 : 11 : 2 |
| Cholestatic jaundice (n) | 5 (19%) | 10 (35%) |
| Maximum serum conjugated bilirubin concentration (mmol/l) | 18 (8–34) | 18 (8–50) |
| Duration of hospital stay (days) | 73 (64–97) | 86 (64–109) |
| Number who died | 0 (0%) | 3 (10%) |
Continuous variables are expressed in median (interquartile ranges) and proportions in numbers of patients (%).