Nutritional management during chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer

Abstract

Advanced esophageal cancer is treated by chemotherapy, radiation therapy, chemoradiotherapy, and immunotherapy. However, the stenosis caused by the tumor and cancer-related chronic inflammation leads to inadequate food intake, weight loss, and nutrition problems. Given that poor pre-treatment nutritional status increases the risks of treatment-related adverse events and a poor prognosis, the nutrition guidelines recommend a pre-treatment nutritional assessment. When malnutrition is present, nutritional interventions, such as dietary guidance and enteral nutrition supplements, provided by the medical team may reduce treatment-related adverse events. However, whether nutritional intervention improves the prognosis is a topic for future research, including randomized controlled trials. This review discusses the literature on nutritional management in patients undergoing chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer.