[Experience with levocarnitine chloride supplementation for the treatment of fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy].

AIM

Patients undergoing chemotherapy are at risk of carnitine deficiency, and carnitine supplementation has been demonstrated to improve cancer-related fatigue. We examined the changes in fatigue when cancer patients experiencing fatigue while undergoing chemotherapy were administered levocarnitine chloride.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ten patients with advanced and recurrent cancer experiencing fatigue during chemotherapy were administered levocarnitine chloride. We investigated changes in fatigue, and carried out nutritional assessment using the numerical rating scale(NRS)and geriatric nutritional risk index(GNRI), before and after levocarnitine chloride treatment.

RESULTS

Four patients responded to levocarnitine chloride treatment, while six did not. Before treatment, the GNRI of responders was significantly lower than that of nonresponders. The difference between the two groups disappeared after treatment.

CONCLUSION

A form of malnutrition may have been present in responders, which may have been improved by carnitine supplementation. It is possible that an improvement in this nutritional disorder was involved in fatigue mitigation.