When major segments of small bowel have been removed surgically, or damaged by disease, the length of the residual bowel may be inadequate to maintain overall nutrition and the net result is described as "intestinal failure".

Without medical intervention, patients with intestinal failure become malnourished and dehydrated because their remaining intestine is unable to absorb enough water, vitamins and other nutrients from the ingested food. Intravenous feeding offers life saving treatment but causes complications like infections and liver problems. It also poses enormous strain on day to day life.

Glucagon like peptide 2 (GLP-2) is a naturally occurring hormone (or chemical messenger) that is able to increase the surface area of the intestinal lining (or mucosal mass) and the absorptive efficiency of the remaining intestine.

Intestinal failure patients in whom not only parts of the small bowel but also the large bowel have had to be surgically removed have been shown to have a markedly impaired rise in GLP-2 levels following meals, in contrast to patients with a preserved large bowel who have increased levels of GLP-2 and are known to have much better functional adaptation.

From this we hypothesise that the GLP-2 level is directly related to, and could predict, clinical recovery in intestinal failure as measured by Amount of parenteral nutrition required Length of hospital stay Mortality

We also aim to compare GLP-2 levels of patients with acute intestinal failure with that of patients with chronic intestinal failure as well as healthy controls