Continuous quality improvement of nutrition management during radiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Juan Ji, Dan-Dan Jiang, Zhe Xu and 3 others
PMID 34405584WHAT IT FOUND
In patients receiving radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer, multidisciplinary nutrition management was associated with higher BMI, fewer severe malnutrition ratings, better albumin and prealbumin, and milder oral mucositis than routine care.
Key findings
01The nutrition management group had higher BMI and less severe malnutrition after radiotherapy than the routine care group.
02During radiotherapy, the nutrition management group had higher lymphocyte, albumin and prealbumin levels than the routine care group.
03Patients receiving nutrition management had milder oral mucositis than patients receiving routine care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective. Patients were grouped by treatment year, so other changes in 2019 could explain the differences. The intervention was a package of many components, including screening, diet plans, supplements, education, monitoring and team checks, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The sample was small and there was no follow-up, so long-term outcomes are unknown. The authors state that recovery was not accelerated in patients who received nutrition management. Some blood markers were lower in the intervention group, including white blood cells and haemoglobin during radiotherapy and haemoglobin at the end, so the results were not uniformly positive. The study reports nutritional and oral mucositis outcomes, not the quality-of-life or treatment-tolerance outcomes mentioned in its aims.
Declared interests
The article text gives no funding or conflict-of-interest declaration; the supplied publication type indicates non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the FOCUS-PDCA model caused these improvements. The study was retrospective, groups were formed by year, the intervention bundled many components, and the authors reported no follow-up and no accelerated recovery.