Oral nutritional support can shorten the duration of parenteral hydration in end-of-life cancer patients: a randomized controlled trial.
Nutr Cancer
; 67(1): 105-11, 2015.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25437180
ABSTRACT
Tube feeding or hydration is often considered for end-of-life cancer patients despite the negative effects on quality of life. The efficacy of oral nutritional support in this setting is unknown. We conducted a randomized trial to compare the efficacies of an amino acid jelly, Inner Power® (IP), and a liquid enteral product, Ensure Liquid® (EL), in terminally ill cancer patients. We randomly assigned patients to 3 arms EL, IP, and EL+IP. The primary endpoint was drip infusion in vein (DIV)-free survival, which was defined as the duration from nutritional support initiation to administration of parenteral hydration. Twenty-seven patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 21 were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. The median age of the subjects was 69 yr. There were significant differences between the arms with regard to the median DIV-free survival (0.5, 6.0, and 4.5 days in the EL, IP, and EL + IP arms, respectively; P = 0.05). The median overall survival was 7, 9, and 8 days in the EL, IP, and EL + IP arms, respectively. IP may shorten the duration of parenteral hydration in terminally ill cancer patients and does not affect their survival.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Quality of Life
/
Terminal Care
/
Deglutition Disorders
/
Enteral Nutrition
/
Dehydration
/
Fluid Therapy
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Etiology_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Nutr Cancer
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japón