[Parenteral feeding during aggressive chemotherapy of various neoplasms]

Cancer patients are often extremely cachectic. Therefore, they become poor risks for adequate chemotherapy. Consequently, they are either excluded from antitumor therapy or receive only reduced dosage regimens. Since the patient's response to cancer chemotherapy depends on immunocompetence which, in turn, is related to the nutritional state, adequate nutrition is the key to effective treatment. Parenteral nutrition, which in the literature is often referred to as hyperalimentation, can overcome and prevent cachexia. We treated 19 patients with advanced malignancies of various kinds using aggressive chemotherapeutic regimens and parenteral nutrition. The tolerance for chemotherapy in our patients was improved and the patients gained weight.