title: Prealbumin is a more sensitive marker than albumin to assess the nutritional status in patients undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this prospective study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and to evaluate a more sensitive marker to assess the nutritional status in patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prospective study included 51 (mean age of 57.6 ±11.2 years) patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer. Malnutrition was defined as weight loss > 5% of baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-six (90.2%) of 51 patients were male. Malnutrition developed in 33 (64.7%) patients during RT. Mean prealbumin level was significantly lower in patients with malnutrition than in those without malnutrition (17 ±5 g/dl vs. 22 ±5 g/dl, respectively, p = 0.004). On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of other nutrition parameters including total protein, albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose (p > 0.05). The percentage of weight loss negatively correlated with prealbumin (r = -0.430, p = 0.002), but not with other nutrition parameters including total protein, albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and glucose (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of malnutrition was high in patients with head and neck cancer. Prealbumin was a more sensitive marker than albumin to assess the nutritional status in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Okan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Orhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Celalettin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eroglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bunyamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaplan
keywords: albumin; head and neck cancer; malnutrition; prealbumin; radiotherapy