Impact of enteral nutrition through jejunal feeding tube during chemotherapy on the nutritional status and immunologic function of patients after total gastrectomy / 中华临床营养杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the impact of enteral nutrition (EN) through jejunal feeding tube on the nutritional status and immunologic function of patients during chemotherapy after total gastrectomy.Methods Totally 86 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone total gastrectomy with radical resection and jejunostomy received adjuvant venous chemotherapy in our department from January 2009 to June 2010.They were divided into EN group ( n =43 ) and control group ( n =43 ) according to the hospitalization number.The EN group maintained the jejunostomy tube until the end of 6 courses of chemotherapy,and was given EN support for 7 days through jejunal tube during each course of chemotherapy; the control group removed the tube before chemotherapy without further dietary restriction or nutrition support.The nutritional and immunologic indicators on the 1 st day before chemotherapy and the 1st day after 6 chemotherapy courses were measured.ResultsThree patients in the EN group withdrew from the study because of catheter blockage or catheter loss and 2 patients in the control group failed to complete the trial because of chemotherapy side effects or economic reasons; 81 patients entered the final analysis.After 6 courses of chemotherapy,both groups experienced body weight loss,but the percentage is significantly lower in EN group than in control group (6.9％ ± 0.95％ vs.11.2％ ± 1.32％,P =0.0000).Compared with the nutritional status before the first chemotherapy,the prognosis nutritional index (PNI) in both groups declined after the 6th chemotherapy.Such decline was not statistically significant in EN group ( P =0.1534) but was significant in control group (P =0.0000).The PNI in EN group after chemotherapy was significantly higher than that in control group (P =0.0040).The levels of IgG,NK,CD4 +,and CD4 +/CD8 + were significantly higher in EN group than in control group ( P =0.0083,0.0143,0.0000,and 0.0000,respectively) after chemotherapy.ConclusionEN during postoperative chemotherapy may improve the nutritional status and immunologic function in gastric cancer patients after total gastrectomy.