Overview of Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines for the Nutritional Management of Patients Receiving Anticancer Therapy — ASN Events
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Overview of Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines for the Nutritional Management of Patients Receiving Anticancer Therapy (#36)

Elizabeth Isenring 1
  1. Queensland Health, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

Evidence-based practice guidelines for the nutritional management of patients receiving radiation therapy1 have recently been updated and now include chemotherapy. The following databases were searched using a range of keywords: Cochrane Database, CENTRAL, MEDLINE (via Ebscohost), EMBASE, CINAHL (Ebscohost), Web of Science, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition and PubMed. Relevant papers (N=47) were reviewed by at least two members of the steering committee and assigned a level of evidence and a quality rating. There were no new published randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of nutrition intervention in radiation therapy. Most statements in the previous radiation therapy guidelines have strong evidence supporting nutrition intervention. There were 12 studies in chemotherapy including 5 RCTs. While these studies provided strong evidence that simple nutrition intervention improves nutritional outcomes such as dietary intake and weight, they did not find an improvement in quality of life or survival. Several RCTs found no benefits of nutrition support in patients undergoing chemotherapy. None of the RCTs in chemotherapy used Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) as the intervention, but rather simple dietary advice and/or supplements. Several reviews and consensus-based recommendations were also identified. In conclusion, the evidence to support nutrition intervention in patients receiving radiation therapy remains strong. However, the benefits of nutrition intervention in chemotherapy are less clear. Further studies are required to evaluate the impact of MNT as opposed to simple dietary advice in chemotherapy patients. This update contributes to a move towards comprehensive evidence-based guidelines for the nutritional management of patients receiving anticancer therapy. 

References:

1   Isenring E, Hill J, Davidson W, Brown T, Baumgartner L, Kaegi K, Reeves M, Ash S, Thomas S, McPhee S, Bauer J. (2008) ‘Evidence-based practice guidelines for the nutritional management of patients receiving radiation therapy’. Nutrition and Dietetics; 65 (Suppl 1): S1-S18.