Malnutrition will lead to patients' reduced tolerance to treatment, difficult wound healing, postoperative infection and so on. , directly reduces the quality of life of patients, affects the treatment effect, and even greatly shortens the survival time!
Therefore, the nutrition of cancer patients is a very important issue for every patient, family members and clinicians, even equal to the importance of treatment, but in fact, the nutrition support/treatment of cancer patients is still on the edge of doctors and patients' cognition, leading to:
The incidence of malnutrition in patients with malignant tumor is high!
40%~80% of patients are malnourished!
The incidence of malnutrition in patients who died of cancer almost reached 100%!
Therefore, it is urgent to carry out correct nutrition education and dietary guidance for cancer patients/families!
Why does malnutrition happen?
The disease itself will increase the energy consumption of the human body, leading to various malnutrition symptoms such as loss of appetite and weight loss. In addition, tumor cells differentiate and proliferate much faster than normal cells, which also means consuming more energy.
From the perspective of treatment, cancer patients often have to receive multiple treatments at the same time. Acute metabolic stress caused by surgical treatment may increase the demand for energy and protein, thus aggravating muscle attenuation, affecting food intake and causing nutritional deficiency and malnutrition; Cytotoxic drugs of chemotherapy often cause various malnutrition reactions; Radiotherapy often leads to changes in esophageal inflammation, decreased intake and absorption of digestive tract, and deterioration of nutritional status of patients. Other immunotherapy or bone marrow transplantation have more or less similar side effects, such as loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, fatigue and so on.
Therefore, the treatment of tumor affects the intake of nutrition, and patients also need to consume more energy than the general state. It is not difficult to understand such a high malnutrition rate.
The necessity of nutritional support
Judging from the clinical outcome, malnutrition will seriously affect the treatment/rehabilitation of malnourished patients, such as:
At present, all countries are actively exploring nutrition screening methods for patients with malignant tumors and effective measures to treat malnutrition, so as to improve the clinical outcome of patients and save medical expenses.
Australia conducted a study on chemotherapy patients receiving nutritional therapy. Eight patients with cancer cachexia received chemotherapy, and at the same time received weekly consultation and guidance from nutritionists, supplemented by oral nutritional supplements rich in protein and energy containing EPA for 8 weeks. The results showed that the total protein intake, total energy intake, PG-SGA score, KPS score and quality of life were improved obviously.
A study on nutrition recovery plan for cancer patients in Australia included 54 cancer patients, all of whom received individualized nutrition intervention, exercise plan and symptom management. The results showed that the nutrition recovery plan could improve the patients' weight (63.4 kg), KPS score (80), endurance (6MWT 570 m), strength test (RGHS 28 kg) and reduce ESAS score (39 vs 22).
A multi-center large sample study (2248 cases) led by CSCO Cancer Nutrition Treatment Committee 20 10 showed that the RR (relative risk) of adverse reactions can be reduced by about 10% compared with patients who did not receive nutritional treatment.
How to provide nutritional support for cancer patients?
"Nutritional support" refers to the supplement of essential nutrients for treating or relieving diseases and enhancing the clinical effect of treatment. Nutritional support mainly includes enteral nutrition (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN).
Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) are widely used for cancer patients. This nutritional supplement method is to send specially prepared nutrients into the gastrointestinal tract of patients through oral or tube feeding (nasal feeding and gastrointestinal fistula) to provide nutritional support for the body.
Generally speaking, the period of chemotherapy and/or taking targeted drugs is the most important time to ensure the body's nutritional supply, so it is recommended that the following patients give nutritional support in time.
In a word, nutrition is the foundation of health and all treatments. If there is a nutritional problem, the earlier the intervention, the better. Here, I hope that patients and their families can pay more attention to the importance of nutritional support, see a clinical dietitian as soon as possible if they have problems, and help you recover as soon as possible through reasonable diet and standardized nutritional support.