Oncology

Patients with cancer are at particularly high risk for malnutrition because both the disease and its treatments threaten their nutritional status. However, cancer-related nutritional risk is sometimes overlooked or under-treated by clinicians, patients and their families. These ESPEN expert group recommendations provide clinical guidance in managing cancer related malnutrition.

Evidence based guidelines which were developed to translate current best evidence and expert opinion and translated into recommendations for multi-disciplinary teams responsible for identification, prevention, and treatment of malnutrition in adult cancer patients. These guidelines were commissed and financially supported by ESPEN and by the European Partnership for Action Against Cancer(EPAAC).

A comparative study that showed that early nutritional intervention in patients with Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy resulted in improved treatment tolerance and fewer admissions to hospital. Suggesting that nutritional intervention must be initiated before chemoradiotherapy, and continued after treatment completion.

A study evaluating the benefit of oral nutritional supplements(ONS) in addition to nutritional counselling in head and neck cancer(HNC) patients undergoing radiotherapy. HNC patients receiving radiotherapy and nutritional counselling with ONS had better weight maintenance, protein-calorie intake and quality of life than those patients who did not receive ONS.