Acute nutritional problems in the oncology patient

Abstract

Alterations to the nutritional state are frequent in oncology patients. These constitute an important medical problem, with a tendency to rise in recent years. Some tumours usually appear more frequently in persons with prior malnutrition or excessive consumption of alcohol or tobacco. But besides, either because of the disease, or because of the treatment to which they are subjected, it is frequently the case that oncology patients show problems of deglutition and require the placement of probes for enteral nutrition. The present paper offers an initial evaluation of the nutritional state of these patients and, subsequently, of the most important problems that patients with enteral nutrition can present in emergencies.