Better outcome of patients undergoing enteral tube feeding after myeloablative conditioning for allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Parenteral nutrition (PN) is still widely preferred to enteral nutrition (EN) in malnourished patients undergoing allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (allo-SCT) after myeloablative conditioning (MAC). The purpose was to determine whether EN improves early outcome after MAC allo-SCT.


METHODS
Early outcome was prospectively assessed in patients undergoing MAC allo-SCT. A total of 121 consecutive patients undergoing a first MAC allo-SCT for acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, or myeloproliferative syndrome were included. Patients who received cord blood were excluded. Enteral nutrition was systematically offered, although PN was provided when EN had been refused or was poorly tolerated. Among the patients, 94 received EN (EN group) and 27 did not (non-EN group). Overall survival (OS), cumulative incidence of engraftment and acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) within the first 100 days after transplantation were studied. Because EN and PN treatment assignments were not random, propensity score adjustments were performed on patient outcomes.


RESULTS
Outcome was better in the EN group than in the non-EN group for OS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04-0.42; P=0.0008), neutrophil (HR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.26-3.39; P=0.004), and platelet (HR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.004-3.70; P=0.049) engraftments and aGVHD development (HR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.04-0.39; P=0.0004). In Cox model analysis, EN demonstrated a protective effect (HR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.05-0.77; P=0.019) on OS, whereas demonstrated a detrimental impact (HR, 4.18; 95% CI, 1.02-17.12; P=0.047). Enteral nutrition was found to be an independent factor in neutrophil engraftment (HR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.24-3.81; P=0.007), whereas PN delayed platelet engraftment (HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.33-0.99; P=0.046). Enteral nutrition was the only factor that was protective against grades 3 to 4 aGVHD development (HR, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.05-0.72; P=0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Routine use of EN is preferable to upfront PN in these patients.
Unité Mobile de Soutien Nutritionnel, Univ Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
David
D
Seguy
Alain
A
Duhamel
Majd Ben
MB
Rejeb
Emmanuel
E
Gomez
Nicolas Danel
ND
Buhl
Bénédicte
B
Bruno
Antoine
A
Cortot
Ibrahim
I
Yakoub-Agha
D000328:Adult; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004750:Enteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000628:therapy; D009196:Myeloproliferative Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome