がん患者さんの栄養管理を支える栄養サポートチーム

Several hospitals have recently established a nutrition support team（NST）for the nutritional management of inpatients. The NST includes medical doctors, nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists. The aims of the NST are to improve the nutritional condition and the quality of life（QOL）of patients. In Tokushima University Hospital, a NST was established in２００２. Our team comprises physicians, surgeons, dentists, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, dental hygienists, and physical therapists. Overall, ７０％ of patients undergoing a NST intervention have cancer. Nutritional management in patients with cancer plays an important role in the supportive care during cancer treatment（surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy）. It is focused on the improvement of undernutrition, return to oral feeding, and an improvement in QOL in palliative care. Recently, cancer cachexia has received a lot of attention, with various studies reporting on the nutritional care in patients with cancer. Malnutrition negatively impacts a patient’s response to therapy, leading to an increase in the incidence of treatment-related side effects, and impairment in muscle function, performance status, immune function, and QOL. Recently, it has been reported that NST improves the treatment outcome in patients with cancer because nutritional status is an important part of cancer treatment. Therefore, nutritional management by a NST in patients with cancer has played a crucial role in cancer therapy.