New trends in nutritional status assessment of cancer patients

TLDR: Given the clinical relevance of nutritional intervention in patients' quality of life, the nutritional status assessment has a key role in oncological and surgical practice and should include BC assessment in order to tailor nutritional treatment to patients' individual requirements.

Abstract: Background: Nutritional sta- tus assessment and support should be consid- ered a valuable measure within the overall on- cology strategy. Despite extensive research in the field of clinical nutrition, definite guidelines to base rational nutritional assessment and sup- port in cancer patients are still debated. This re- view examines different approaches to nutrition- al status in cancer patients. Design: The assessment of nutritional status is usually based on anthropometric measures, bio- chemical or laboratory tests, clinical indicators and dietary assessment. At present, body composition (BC) is rarely measured in the clinical setting be- cause it is thought to be too unmanageable and time-consuming. However, using new technolo- gies, the estimation of fat, lean and body fluids, that is significant in the management of nutrition therapies in oncology, has become easy. The present study evaluates the different meth- ods of nutrition assessment today available, espe- cially body composition (BC) measurements. Fur- thermore, nutrition assessment, relevance of nutri- tional support and choice of nutritional strategy, in surgical patients, are discussed. Discussion: Given the clinical relevance of nutritional intervention in patients' quality of life, the nutritional status assessment has a key role in oncological and surgical practice and should include BC assessment in order to tailor nutri- tional treatment to patients' individual require- ments. Furthermore, administration of the sup- plemented diet before and after surgery seemed to be the best strategy to reduce complications and length of hospital stay.