Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 69, January 2020, 110558
Nutrition

Applied nutritional investigation
Effect of whole-course nutrition management on patients with esophageal cancer undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy: A randomized control trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2019.110558Get rights and content
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open access

Highlights

  • Whole course nutritional management is better than general nutritional management.

  • Whole course nutritional management improves the nutritional status of patients with cancer.

  • Whole course nutritional management alleviates complications from chemoradiotherapy.

  • Whole course nutritional management improves quality of life and depressive symptoms.

Abstract

Objectives

Malnutrition is the most common complication of patients with esophageal cancer and can lead to poor prognosis and death. Good nutritional status has been shown to help improve patient outcomes and reduce complications. In the absence of specific evidence on the effect of nutrition in patients with esophageal cancer, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of whole-course nutrition management on the prognosis and complications of chemoradiotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer through a randomized controlled trial.

Methods

A total of 96 patients with esophageal cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiation were randomized to an intervention group (treated with whole-course nutrition management from the Nutrition Support Team) and a control group (treated with the general nutritional method) for approximately 6 wk. Dietary surveys and body measurements were conducted at baseline and every day thereafter. Patient-generated Subjective Global Assessment score, blood index, quality of life, and psychological condition were assessed at baseline and every week before discharge. Complications (e.g., radiation esophagitis, myelosuppression, and skin symptoms), completion rates of therapy, short-term efficacy evaluation, as well as clinical outcomes were measured.

Results

A total of 85 patients completed the study (intervention group = 45; control group = 40). There were significant differences in the changes of serum albumin and total protein between the two groups throughout the trial (P < 0.05). Complications (e.g., radioactive esophagitis, skin symptom of complications) and quality of life were statistically different before and after the intervention (P < 0.05). The difference in the change of other indicators was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Whole-course nutrition management can improve the nutritional status of patients with esophageal cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy, reduce the severity of radiation esophagitis and radiation skin reactions, improve the quality of life, and relieve depressive symptoms.

Keywords

Esophageal cancer
Concurrent chemoradiotherapy
Nutrition support team
Nutritional status
Complications
Patient-generated Subjective Global Assessment

Cited by (0)

This research was funded by the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation Special Fund for Clinical Research of 2017 (grant number 320.6750.17110). The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to this research.

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Co-authors.