Cachexia,
malnutrition, significant
weight loss, and reduction in food intake due to
anorexia represent the most important pathophysiological consequences of
pancreatic cancer. Pathophysiological consequences result also from
pancreatectomy, the type and severity of which differ significantly and depend on the type of the operation performed. Nutritional intervention, either parenteral or enteral, needs to be seen as a method of support in
pancreatic cancer patients aiming at the maintenance of the nutritional and functional status and the prevention or attenuation of
cachexia. Oral nutrition could reduce complications while restoring quality of life.
Enteral nutrition in the post-operative period could also reduce infective complications. The evidence for immune-enhanced feed in patients undergoing
pancreaticoduodenectomy for
pancreatic cancer is supported by the available clinical data.
Nutritional support during the post-operative period on a cyclical basis is preferred because it is associated with low incidence of
gastric stasis. Postoperative
total parenteral nutrition is indicated only to those patients who are unable to be fed orally or enterally. Thus
nutritional deficiency is a relatively widesoread and constant finding suggesting that we must optimise the nutritional status both before and after surgery.