Nutritional effects of oesophageal, gastric and pancreatic carcinoma

Cancer of the oesophagus, stomach or pancreas has profound effects on the nutritional status of the individual as normal functioning of these digestive organs is essential to physiological well-being. Thus the cancer patient is subjected not only to the localized and systemic effects of carcinoma but to the body's inability to properly nourish itself. It is therefore surprising that there is such a dearth of knowledge with respect to the effects of cancer of these organs on the totality of nutritional status as the technology is now available to address this important issue. Furthermore, as the value of nutritional support for such patients is gaining widespread acknowledgement the use of such technology should be employed, not only to accurately and precisely define the changes in nutritional status, body composition, physiological function and psychological state, but to monitor the effect of established treatment and assess the efficacy of novel new treatments. The purpose of this review is to describe the technology which is available to achieve this, outline some of the published work on nutrition and cancer of the oesophagus, stomach and pancreas and, finally, to discuss possible future trends in this area of clinical practice.