Abstract
The indications of nutrition support in cancer patients have been subject to controversy. Most studies address the effects of the method in increasing the survival or the tumor response rate. Few studies have focused on the effects in improving quality of life.After a brief review, we described the results of a study, which evaluated the effects of protein-caloric supplementation on the quality of life parameters in a group of head and neck cancer patients submitted to radiotherapy. The results support the suggestion of creating standard criteria to indicate nutrition support in cancer patients.Based on our findings, nutrition support should be indicated for cancer patients considering the potential effects to improve the quality of life.
Highlights
Several studies have been published to evaluate the indications of nutritional support in cancer
The general indications of nutrition support in cancer have resulted in guidelines and recommendations published in the medical literature
In a study published elsewhere [17], our group prospectively compared the quality of life (QoL) effects of nutrition support in one hundred-forty-six patients with head and neck cancer submitted to radiotherapy receiving protein-caloric supplementation in routine basis (PCS)
Summary
Several studies have been published to evaluate the indications of nutritional support in cancer. The majority of these studies are review articles and meta-analysis. A consensus has been sought from the data analyses in order to establish a standard for nutritional support in cancer. The term "nutritional support" has been applied almost exclusively for the use of total parenteral nutrition, instead of the entire modalities of nutrition intervention, including nutritional supplementation and enteral nutrition. Several methodological errors have been shown, which has produced certain controversy in the data interpretation. The general indications of nutrition support in cancer have resulted in guidelines and recommendations published in the medical literature. Three reviews were recently published addressing this issue
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