ABSTRACT
Malnutrition is a frequent comorbidity in cancer patients, associated with poorer anticancer treatment tolerance, prognosis and quality of life.
Despite an abundance of scientific literature supporting this view, and the availability of updated international guidelines for maintaining nutritional care in cancer patients, the attitude towards this issue still varies considerably among oncologists, not only in Italy, such that many malnourished patients do not receive adequate nutritional support. This could be related to insufficient awareness of nutritional problems among healthcare professionals and the lack of structured collaboration between oncologists and clinical nutritionists.
In view of this, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), the Italian Society of Artificial Nutrition and Metabolism (SINPE) and the Italian Federation of Volunteer-based Cancer Organizations (FAVO) have initiated a structured collaborative project named “Integrating Nutritional Therapy in Oncology (INTO),” with the aim of increasing awareness of nutritional issues among Italian oncologists and, consequently, improving the nutritional care of cancer patients in Italy.
