ABSTRACT
Early nutritional intervention is particularly important in palliative care patients.
Approximately 80% of advanced cancer patients show cancer-associated malnutrition with its characteristic reduced food intake and metabolic derangements.
The main causes of malnutrition are reduced food intake, nutrients loss, increased nourishing needs and metabolism alterations. Since malnutrition has serious consequences for all organs and systems, a careful malnutrition assessment plays a fundamental role in order to set up an appropriate nutritional intervention.
Gastrointestinal symptoms are often linked to nutritional parameters. In particular, energy intake represents the most predictive variable of symptoms occurrence.
Malnutrition correction has positive effects on life expectancy, length of hospitalization, recovery from ulcers and quality of life.
A rigorous nutritional assessment and the managing of gastrointestinal symptoms should be considered ethical and professionally correct in palliative care patients when artificial nutrition is either inapplicable or unsuccessful.
