Description

Background 30-50% of patients with cancer are malnourished, resulting in poorer prognosis, increased toxicities, reduced quality of life, and reduced physical function. Nevertheless, cancer-related malnutrition remains largely unrecognized and undertreated in clinical practice.

Aim To examine the effect of an early individualised nutritional intervention on body weight, quality of life, survival, muscle mass, performance status, physical function, nutritional risk, and treatment tolerance in patients with cancer receiving palliative chemotherapy.

Methods An intervention study with a historical control cohort. Participants are newly diagnosed patients with lung, pancreatic, ovarian, or colorectal cancers recruited at initiation of palliative chemotherapy. The control group followed current clinical practice. The intervention group receives an individualised nutritional intervention delivered by a clinical dietitian from treatment initiation and throughout the treatment trajectory. The intervention is tailored to the participant's nutritional needs, food preferences, nutrition impact symptoms, and smell- and taste disorders. The primary endpoint is change in body weight. Secondary endpoints include quality of life, survival, muscle mass, performance status, physical function, nutritional risk, and treatment tolerance. Data are collected at baseline and after 12 and 24 weeks.

Perspectives The project will provide new knowledge on the effects of individualised nutritional interventions for patients with cancer receiving palliative chemotherapy, and the potential to improve quality of life, treatment tolerance, and survival.