The management of neuroendocrine tumours: A nutritional viewpoint

ABSTRACT

Nutritional status in patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), especially of gastroenteropancreatic origin, can be deeply affected by excessive production of gastrointestinal hormones, peptides, and amines, which can lead to malabsorption, diarrhoea, steatorrhea, and altered gastrointestinal motility. Besides, the surgical and/or medical management of NETs can lead to alteration of gastrointestinal secretory, motor, and absorptive functions, with both dietary and nutritional consequences. Indeed, disease-related malnutrition is a frequently encountered yet both underrecognized and understudied clinical phenomenon in patients with NETs, with substantial prognostic and socioeconomic consequences. Most of these conditions can be alleviated by a tailored nutritional approach, also with the aim of improving the efficacy of cancer treatments. In this setting, skilled nutritionists can play a fundamental role in the multidisciplinary health care team in NETs management and their presence should be recommended. The aim of this review is to provide dietary advices for each specific condition in patients with NETs, underlining the importance of a nutritional approach to treat malnutrition in this setting. Further, we will provide preliminary evidence coming from our data on the assessment of nutritional status in a single cohort of patients with NETs.

KEYWORDS:

• neuroendocrine tumours
• symptoms
• nutrition
• lifestyle
• therapy

Acknowledgments

This review is part of the ‘NIKE’ project (Neuroendocrine tumours Innovation Knowledge and Education) led by Prof Annamaria Colao, which aims at increasing the knowledge on NETs.

Compliance with ethical standards

 

Funding

none

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.