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[Nutritional assistance to patients during radiotherapy]
M C Dias1, W Nadalin, Y C Baxter
1Divisão de Nutrição e Dietética, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo.
Revista Do Hospital Das Clinicas
|March 1, 1996
Summary
Nutritional therapy improved patient status during cancer radiotherapy. Early nutritional support, including tube feeding, enhanced calorie intake and patient well-being, with excellent compliance.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Nutrition Science
Context:
- Head and neck and esophageal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy often experience malnutrition and treatment side effects.
- Nutritional status is critical for treatment tolerance and patient outcomes in cancer care.
Purpose:
- To assess the benefits of a structured nutritional therapy program during radiotherapy for head and neck and esophageal cancers.
- To evaluate the impact of nutritional support on nutritional status, treatment compliance, and patient-reported outcomes.
Summary:
- A prospective study of 140 cancer patients (81% head and neck, 19% esophageal) demonstrated that early nutritional support, utilizing tube feeding and oral diets, significantly improved calorie intake from below 60% to 60% of estimated needs.
- Despite radiotherapy-induced side effects like mucositis and xerostomia, 84% of patients reported subjective improvement, and 100% completed the nutritional support program with no mortality.
- While lymphocyte counts decreased, the nutritional therapy maintained or improved overall nutritional status, with mild and infrequent complications from enteral feeding.
Impact:
- Early nutritional intervention is effective in maintaining/improving nutritional status in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.
- Tube feeding, alone or combined with oral diets, is a viable method to meet energy requirements during cancer treatment.
- High compliance rates highlight the importance of multidisciplinary team support and specialized home alimentation services (PROSNED) in cancer patient care.