Supplemental home parenteral nutrition improved nutrition status with comparable quality of life in malnourished unresectable/metastatic gastric cancer receiving salvage chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Even with significant advances in surgical techniques and treatment, salvage chemotherapy remains the major treatment strategy for patients with unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer (GC). Practical and technical advances have simplified safe and convenient use of supplemental home parenteral nutrition (HPN). We aimed to clarify the role of HPN in patients with incurable GC undergoing salvage chemotherapy. METHODS We enrolled 25 patients with GC with a nutritional risk index (NRI) of ≦ 97.5 undergoing HPN. Their nutritional status, laboratory data, and quality of life (QoL) were analyzed using the Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire-C30 before and after HPN administration at 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 months. We enrolled 25 patients with an NRI of > 97.5 not undergoing HPN as the control group. RESULTS Total protein (P = 0.008), prealbumin (P < 0.001), and total cholesterol (P = 0.023) levels improved significantly after 0.5 months of HPN administration. The study group also demonstrated a marked improvement in nitrogen balance (P = 0.004) and prealbumin levels (P < 0.012) after 1 month. Gains in body weight after 1 month and body mass index after 2 months of HPN administration remained comparable with those of the control group. Global QoL scores were maintained and comparable with those of the control group. CONCLUSIONS Supplemental HPN therapy for malnourished patients with unresectable or metastatic GC undergoing salvage chemotherapy is feasible and revealed marked improvement in nutritional status. Early HPN intervention should be considered an important part of palliative treatment for advanced GC.