The Elental� elemental diet for chemoradiotherapy‑induced oral mucositis: A prospective study in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Oral mucositis is a common adverse effect of cancer treatment that can increase the risk for local and systemic infection. This prospective study was designed to evaluate the preventive effects of an amino-acid-rich elemental diet (ED), Elental ® , on radiotherapy-or chemoradiotherapy-induced mucositis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients. Fifty patients were enrolled in this prospective study, who had received radiation (60-70 Gy) with/without chemotherapy [S-1, UFT, cisplatin (CDDP), docetaxel (DOC) plus CDDP, or Cetuximab]. The Elental ® group (25 patients) had received Elental ® during treatment, and the control group (25 patients) had not. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors related to abatement of oral mucositis. A comparison of the rates of completion of chemoradiation treatments as well as the nutritional or inflammatory status between Elental ® and control groups was performed. Multivariate analysis indicated that most of the patients who received Elental ® suffered from a lower degree of mucositis and showed significantly improved rate of completion of chemoradiation (no interruption) compared to the control group. There was a significant difference between the Elental ® group and the control group in terms of the mean change of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in blood serum; however, there was no significant difference in terms of a mean change of body weight and total protein level in blood serum before and after chemoradiation. Our study shows that the Elental ® elemental diet could be useful for the treatment of oral mucositis induced by chemoradiation. Elental ® might also promote improved completion rates of chemoradiotherapy in OSCC patients.

Oligomeric Enteral Nutrition in Undernutrition, due to Oncology Treatment-Related Diarrhea. Systematic Review and Proposal of An Algorithm of Action

“…Further details about the literature search process are provided in Figure 1. Relevant studies were identified [52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68], and their results are summarized in Table 2 and Table 3.…”

“…Regarding chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis [60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68] (Table 3), all the studies we have found used the same oligomeric formula of enteral nutrition (Elental ® ). In total there are 345 patients, of whom 203 were treated with this oligomeric enteral nutrition, and the rest are controls without enteral nutrition.…”

“…In summary, the main objective of the studies is the effect of this type of oral nutritional supplement on oral mucositis in patients with chemotherapy. In all of the studies [60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68] oral mucositis improves, while the rest of the outcomes show different results. Only one study observes improvement in controls on body weight [68], while two others do not find differences [64,67], although in another they find improvement in lean body mass [60].…”

“…In all of the studies [60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68] oral mucositis improves, while the rest of the outcomes show different results. Only one study observes improvement in controls on body weight [68], while two others do not find differences [64,67], although in another they find improvement in lean body mass [60]. With regards to the response of diarrhea to this supplementation, the majority of studies do not find differences compared to the control group [62,65,66,68].…”

“…With regards to the response of diarrhea to this supplementation, the majority of studies do not find differences compared to the control group [62,65,66,68]. Despite these poor results, some authors note that hospitalization time decreases [62], and there are fewer cases in which chemotherapy should be stopped due to its side effects [64,67].…”