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[Nutritional and digestive disorders in palliative care]
Revue Medicale De Bruxelles
|November 7, 1998
Summary
Palliative care patients with cancer-related anorexia-cachexia syndrome can benefit from home enteral nutrition. This approach improves quality of life, unlike appetite-stimulating medications whose cost-effectiveness is unproven.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Palliative Medicine
- Gastroenterology
Context:
- Anorexia-cachexia syndrome is common in advanced cancer.
- Parenteral nutrition is typically reserved for exceptional cases in palliative care.
- Home-based nutritional support is crucial for improving patient quality of life.
Purpose:
- To review nutritional support strategies for advanced cancer patients.
- To discuss management of common symptoms like hiccups, nausea, and constipation in palliative care.
- To highlight the role of enteral nutrition in home-based palliative care.
Summary:
- Enteral nutrition via feeding tubes or gastrostomy offers effective long-term nutritional support for palliative care patients at home.
- Management of anorexia-cachexia syndrome in advanced cancer requires a focus on simple nutritional interventions.
- Symptomatic treatments for hiccups, nausea, and constipation involve both non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches, including metoclopramide, corticosteroids, and laxatives.
Impact:
- Optimizing nutritional status can significantly enhance the quality of life for palliative care patients.
- Effective management of treatment side effects and symptoms improves patient comfort and adherence to care plans.
- This review emphasizes practical, evidence-based strategies for nutritional and symptomatic support in advanced cancer care.