Systematic nutrition management for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients undergoing radiotherapy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of systematic nutrition management (SNM) on nutritional status, treatment-related toxicity, quality of life (QoL), response rates, and survival in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC) treated by radiotherapy (RT). Methods: In this retrospective study, 56 patients with LA-NPC were selected as nutrition management group (NG) for SNM during RT till 1 month later. Another 56 patients with LA-NPC receiving RT without SNM as control group (CG) were identified from the hospital database and matched pairs with NG patients according to age, gender, stage, and body mass index (BMI) prior to RT. Results: At 1 month after RT, the percentage of malnourished patients with BMI 2 was statistically significant reduced in NG as compared to the CG group (35.7% vs 58.9%, P=0.014). Nutritional indexes of body weight, hemoglobin, prealbumin, and lymphocyte in the NG were statistically significant higher than those in the CG group (P0.05) for the 2-year progression-free survival and overall survival (84.2% versus 79.5% and 94.7% versus 92.3%, respectively.). Conclusion: SNM for LA-NPC patients treated by RT resulted in better nutritional status, reduced treatment-related toxicity and improved QoL.