Abstract

Author(s): Guilherme, Larissa Gens1; Bastos da Silva, Laís Leilane2; Casado, Arthur Henrique da Silva1; Burgos, Maria Goretti Pessoa de Araújo1

Introduction: Cancer increases the risk of malnutrition and metabolic disorders due to tumor and anticancer treatments. Nutritional therapy is recommended to maintain or improve the nutritional status of these patients.

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of nutritional therapy in hospitalized cancer patients.

Methods: A retrospective case series study was conducted from 2016 to 2019, in which nutritional therapy (enteral and parenteral) was evaluated performed at the Cancer’s Hospital of Pernambuco. Demographic, clinical, anthropometric, nutritional risk and characteristics of the therapies administered informations were collected.

Results: included 365 patients (58.64 + 13.1 years), 62.5% men, predominantly surgical clinic (49.3%) and head and neck cancer (35%). The indication for nutritional therapy was tumoral obstruction and lowering the level of consciousness in the ICU. Enteral therapy was predominant (72.6%), using industrialized, polymeric, normocaloric and hyperprotein formulas, administered exclusively by nasogastric tube (82.3%). The most frequent parenteral therapy was type 3 in 1, administered exclusively by central access in 88.7%. The period of enteral use was 11.31 ± 12.61 days and parenteral use was 10.31 ± 9.37 days.

Discussion: There is a few research in the literature to assess the nutritional characteristics of therapies, but this therapy is of significant importance in recovering the nutritional status of this type of disease, since malnutrition is commonly found among these patients.

Conclusion: enteral nutrition was the most used with predominance of normocaloric and hyperproteic polymeric formulas, where patients with head and neck cancer made the most use of this therapy.