title: Nutritional support of patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract.
abstract: Malnutrition is extremely common in patients with malignant disease. Whereas the causes are multifactorial, the predominant factor is the imbalance between nutrient intake and host nutrient requirements. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that cachexia is related to abnormal changes in host intermediary metabolism induced by host-tumor interactions, and endogenous peptides such as TNF may be important mediators. The role of nutritional therapy in cancer patients remains to be defined. Clearly, patients with severe malnutrition benefit from nutritional intervention. However, the benefit of nutritional therapy in less severe cases of malnutrition as an adjuvant to oncologic therapy has yet to be established.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Redmond
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lieberman
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jardines
mesh_terms: D002100:Cachexia / Q000209:etiology; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010288:Parenteral Nutrition