Nutrition Support Practices of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Centers in Mainland China

SummaryIt has been identified that malnutrition can influence the immune system and time of engraftment, and it ’s also associated with increased incidence of complications, prolonged length of hospital stays, and transplant mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), so dynamic nutrition care is highly important. The aim of this study was to better underst and the differences between clinical nutrition practices and international recommendations as well as possible barriers to the use of nutrition support in HSCT patients. An evidence-based nutrition support pathway was constructed through a systematic literature review to identify evidence and recomm endations relating to the relevant issues. Then, a questionnaire consisting of 28 questions that focused on the 4 topics, namely, assessment and screening for malnutrition, nutrition support interventions, nutrition support in gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and neutropenic diet wa s developed by the study authors and used for data collection. Responses of 18 HSCT centers from 17 provinces were received. General assessment for malnutrition was performed at 72% (13/18) centers. Parenteral nutrition (PN) was given as the first option to HSCT patients in the majority of centers, despite the fact that current guidelines recommend enteral nutrition (EN) over PN. As many as 72% (13/18) of the centers considered a neutropenic diet in the management of HSCT patients...
Source: Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology -- Medical Sciences -- - Category: Research Source Type: research