Costs and benefits of nutrition support in cancer.
Patients with advanced cancer or AIDS are frequently bothered by anorexia, decreased food intake, fatigue, weight loss, muscle wasting, and a decline in functional status. Nutritional support may afford these patients a better, although not longer life. Available interventions include nutrition counseling, homemade or commercial food supplements, appetite stimulants, enteral nutrition, and parenteral nutrition. Conservative cost estimates for these interventions range from $52/month for homemade supplements to $8,400/month for home parenteral nutrition. Clinicians need to be familiar with the benefits, risks, and costs of these therapies in order to suggest appropriate options.
Tchekmedyian
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Pacific Shores Medical Group Long Beach, California, USA.
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000191:economics*