Effect of nutritional counseling combined with oral nutritional supplements on clinical outcome of esophageal cancer patients under radiotherapy treatment

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of nutritional counseling combined with oral high-fat, high-protein nutritional supplement (Ensource) on nutritional status and clinical outcomes of esophageal cancer patients under radiotherapy treatment. Methods Totally 80 esophageal cancer patients under radiotherapy treatment who were able to take oral feeding and with Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) score ≥3 were selected and divided into a study group (n=41, nutritional counseling combined with oral nutritional supplements) and a control group (n=39, nutritional counseling) with a random number table. Energy intake, nutritional status, and incidences of radiotherapy complications of the two groups before and after radiotherapy were compared. Results Energy intakes in the study group increased significantly during radiotherapy compared with the control group [(2 445±686) kJ vs.(1 747±456)kJ, P=0.003]; and the level of prealbumin and transferrin were increased significantly compared with before radiotherapy [(17.35±5.83)mg/L vs. (20.15±6.02)mg/L, P=0.008; (213.74±52.66)mg/L vs. (264.19±43.78)mg/L, P=0.002]. Besides, compared with the control group, incidence of radiation esophagitis (Grade Ⅲ) and radiation skin injury (Grade Ⅲ) in the study group decreased significantly (24% vs. 38%, P=0.000; 27% vs. 41%, P=0.000). Conclusion Nutritional counseling combined with oral nutritional supplements in esophageal cancer patients could help improve the patients' nutritional profile and decrease the incidence of complications related with radiotherapy. Key words: Nutritional counseling; Oral nutritional supplement; Cancer-specific full nutritional formula; Esophageal cancer; Radiotherapy