Nutritional support of the oncology patient

This review focuses on the nutritional support of the non-surgical cancer patient. The following topics are reviewed: cancer cachexia (definition and staging, prevalence and impact on clinical outcome); nutritional screening to identify potential candidates for nutritional support; nutritional requirements in terms of macro-and micro-nutrients of the advanced cancer patient. Finally, the indications and results of nutritional support are presented with a special focus on the following issues: routes of delivering nutritional support, the use of standard or n-3 fatty acids-enriched oral nutritional supplements during radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, tube feeding during RT (with/without chemotherapy), parenteral nutrition during chemotherapy, nutritional support during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, (home) enteral or total and supplemental parenteral nutrition in the incurable patient. Lastly, the bioethical aspects of feeding patients with incurable disease are briefly reviewed.