Individualized nutritional management for cancer patients: a key component of treatment

The type of cancer, size and location of the tumor, stage of the disease, and treatments provided may lead to different degrees of malnutrition in patients. Symptoms that develop due to the tumor itself or the treatment process may cause a decrease in oral food intake. Therefore, for patients undergoing cancer treatment, personalized nutrition therapy is of great importance. Patients should be regularly screened and evaluated for early detection of malnutrition. All oncology patients should be provided with nutritional counseling, and individuals in the high-risk group should be closely monitored. The nutrition plan should be created based on the type of the disease, treatment process, symptoms, individual needs and living conditions. The primary preference in nutritional treatment is to ensure that the patient is naturally fed orally. However, in cases of inadequate nutritional intake, oral nutritional suplements (ONS), enteral nutrition (EN) or parenteral nutrition (PN) methods can be utilized. EN and PN can be used as complementary to each other when necessary and can increase the effectiveness of nutritional therapy. Regular follow-ups during this process are critical for the maintenance of the patient’s nutritional status and prevention of possible complications. The nutritional education process should be reinforced with supportive educational materials whose language is understandable and plain in an environment suitable for the patient’s needs.