Abstract:
Esophageal cancer patients are at the highest incidence of malnutrition. Malnutrition will reduce the sensitivity of esophageal cancer cells to chemoradiotherapy, increase adverse reactions to the treatment, prolong hospital stays, delay physical rehabilitation, increase medical costs, and reduce treatment efficacy and the quality of life. Therefore, the standardized nutritional therapy is of great significance to patients with esophageal cancer. However, to date, there are no guidelines for nutritional therapy for esophageal cancer patients. Therefore, senior tumor nutritionists from Chinese Society of Nutritional Oncology, Chinese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and the Nutrition and Supportive Therapy Group of Chinese Association for Therapeutic Radiation Oncologists searched and analyzed the latest literature on nutritional therapy of esophageal cancer in China and worldwide. After repeated discussions and modifications, they developed this guideline. The guideline supplies demonstration of the evidence and recommendation of useful suggestions and ideas in six aspects, i.e. the nutrition diagnosis, indications of nutritional therapy, treatment approach, treatment pathways, nutrients and the evaluations of therapeutic efficacy for the patients with esophageal cancer.