[Influence of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on nutritional incidences in patients with recurrent cancer].

The influence of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on nutritional assessment of patients with recurrent cancer was studied. One hundred forty-six patients with recurrent gastric, colorectal and breast cancer who have been admitted to our hospital during the past five years were surveyed. Serum albumin and cholinesterase levels on admission in the gastric and breast cancer patients who died in the hospital were considerably lower than those of the patients who recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital. The patients with recurrent gastric cancer who received TPN for more than a week were also analyzed. It was shown that those whose levels of serum total protein and albumin did not respond favorably to TPN were the patients with shortest survival. Therefore, by checking the response to the administration of TPN, it seems to be possible to predict the patient's prognosis.