Pre-Surgical Nutrition Support Reduces the Incidence of Surgical Wound Complications in Oncological Patients

Abstract

Patients who suffer from cancer are at a higher risk of complications when they experience malnutrition. Evidence shows that oral nutritional supplements favor the healing process. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative oral nutritional intervention in oncological patients undergoing surgery. This study assessed retrospectively 55 cancer patients who previously had undergone abdominal surgery and did not have receive pre-surgical nutritional support (control group), and prospectively 30 oncological patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery and received pre-surgical high-protein nutritional support (experimental group). All patients had to have a NRS 2002 score ≥ 3. Analytical and clinical parameters were analyzed and the NRS 2002 screening test was performed. Post-operative assessments of surgical wound complications were also carried out to determine the impact of nutrition support. Pre-surgical nutritional interventions reduced the incidence and severity of wound complications as well as the length of hospital stays. Only 26.7% of patients in the experimental group had complications compared to 60% of the control group (P = 0.003). We conclude that pre-surgical nutritional interventions of patients undergoing surgery can improve post-surgical patient outcomes of malnourished patients.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all the patients who participated in the study and to the NUTRICIA group for providing the sample products needed to carry out the nutritional interventions. The authors also wish to thank Fernando Sánchez Barbero PhD and Content Ed Net (Madrid, Spain) for editorial assistance on the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Contributions

All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper. All authors have contributed significantly to the conception, design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors have participated in in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript and have approved its submission.

Additional information

Funding

NUTRICIA group funded this study.