Resumen de Importancia del estado nutricional en el paciente con cáncer
Concepción López Carrizosa, Pilar Samper Ots, Manuel Joaquín Martín de Miguel, Antonio Rodríguez Pérez, Carmen Vallejo Ocaña, Juan de Dios Sáez Garrido, José María Delgado Pérez
The inability to sustain an appropriate nutritional status is a common problem in oncology patients. Both the neoplastic disease and its treatment lead to severe protein-caloric malnutrition which has prognostic significance. In this article, we review the pathophysiology of cancer cachexia and the local, systemic and secondary effects, such as the nutrition-associated complications of patients undergoing antitumor therapy. Despite the controversy surrounding the final benefit of pharmacologic management and nutritional support of anorexia/caquexia, we evaluate the potential methods and we conclude that the nutritional assessment should be part of cancer treatment in order to improve the outcome and to limit the complications. We have a simple, sensitive and specific method to evaluate it: The Subjective Global Assessment of nutritional status.
