[Nutritional evaluation in patients with total and partial gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma]

Gastric adenocarcinoma is still one of the most frequent causes of mortality due to cancer in the world. Surgery is the only potentially curative treatment. The adverse effects of surgery are significant and include digestive symptoms, loss of appetite and malnutrition, among others.

Evaluate the nutritional state of patients with a total or partial gastrectomy due to gastric adenocarcinoma.

Descriptive study with a transversal cut, which included 14 patients with gastrectomy due to gastric adenocarcinoma, with a minimum evolution time of five months since the gastrectomy was performed. The nutritional evaluation included anthropometry and biochemical data. The presence of gastrointestinal complications was also evaluated. Nutritional recommendations, as well as some deciding factors in the quality of life, were provided to patients. Descriptive statistics were used for statistical analysis.

The majority of the patients had undergone a partial gastrectomy (71.5%). The average body mass index (BMI) was 22.03+3.5 kg/m2. Most of them had a normal weight (50.0%), while 4 were overweight (28.6%) and only 3 suffered from mild malnutrition (21.4%). The percentage of tricipital cutaneous folds and mid-arm muscular circumference in comparison to standard values was 77.1+37% y 89.6+9.5%, respectively. Eight patients suffered from anemia and only two presented hypoproteinaemia and hypoalbuminaemia. The principal post-surgery complication was nausea (35.7%). All patients were able to leave their homes and 4 of them were assisted by relatives. Six of the educated patients had a job (42.9%).

Malnutrition was not an inevitable consequence of a gastrectomy and may be prevented. The incidence of anemia in this group of patients has high, while other biochemical parameters such as albumin level and total proteins were not so affected.