Evidence based practice guidelines for the nutritional management of patients receiving radiation therapy

Abstract

FOREWORD:
These guidelines were developed following the publication
of the Evidence based guidelines for the nutritional management of cancer cachexia. In workshops conducted around the country, many dietitians identified the need for guidelines on the management of malnutrition occurring with anticancer treatments. We have focused on radiation therapy treatment (patients may also be undergoing synchronous or sequential chemotherapy) for these guidelines as there have been several recent randomised controlled trials (RCTs) which have evaluated nutrition intervention. Studies evaluating the nutritional management of patients receiving chemotherapy alone are not included as there are no recently published RCTs. The older evidence does not demonstrate benefits with respect to survival or tumour response; however, the ability to draw conclusions is difficult due to study design limitations.1 When published nutrition RCTs in patients receiving chemotherapy become available these can be included in future reviews of these guidelines, and hence they will become broader guidelines for the nutritional management of patients receiving radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy treatment.