Malnutrition and the Role of Nutritional Support for Radiation Therapy Patients

Abstract

The effect of radiotherapy, like that of chemotherapy, cannot be exclusively restricted to the malignant cell populations; neither modality can be prevented from adversely affecting the surrounding normal tissue and from giving rise to specific nutritional problems (Table 1). The nutritional disorders caused by irradiation depend on: 1. The type of irradiation 2. The dose, fractionation, and duration of radiotherapy 3. The localization of the tumor or of the region irradiated 4. The volume irradiated 5. The combination with other therapy modalities (23)