Baseline nutritional status could be a predictor for radiation esophagitis in esophageal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

To investigate the relationship between baseline nutrition status and radiation esophagitis in patients with esophageal cancer treated by radiation therapy.

METHODS:

A retrospective study was performed on 100 patients with esophageal cancer who was treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy, preoperative chemoradiation and definitive radiotherapy at the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from October 2018 and October 2019. We documented the clinical characteristics of patients, including tumor location, clinical stage, treatment, radiation dose, gross tumor volume (GTV), planning tumor volume (PTV) and Atkinson's Dysphagia score (ADS), and we recorded the nutrition status before radiation, including Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), body mass index (BMI), weight loss percentage in 3 mouths (WL), the level of albumin (ALB), hemoglobin (HB), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Glasgow prognostic score (GPS). These factors were correlated with radiation esophagitis using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.

RESULTS:

Of 100 patients, 44% patients with PG-SGA score ≥9 at baseline, suggesting severe malnutrition, 41% patients developed grade ≥2 radiation esophagitis. In univariate analysis, dose >40 Gy (P=0.015), PTV ≥495 cm3 (P=0.049), PG-SGA score ≥9 (P=0.001), WL ≥10% (P=0.019) and ALB level <35 g/L (P=0.043) were significantly associated with grade ≥2 radiation esophagitis. Multivariate analysis revealed that PG-SGA score ≥9 (P=0.042) was the independent predictor of radiation esophagitis.

CONCLUSIONS:

Baseline nutritional status associated with development of grade ≥2 radiation esophagitis in patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

• Authors: Jie Dong, Wencheng Zhang, Tian Zhang, Xi Chen, Jingjing Zhao, Yaqi Zeng, Yajun Chen, Xiaoying Wei, Tongda Lei, Ping Wang, Lujun Zhao, Jun Wang, Zhiyong Yuan, Yongchun Song, Ningbo Liu, Kun Wang, Qingsong Pang
• Journal: Annals of translational medicine (Ann Transl Med) Vol. 8 Issue 18 Pg. 1148 (Sep 2020) ISSN: 2305-5839 [Print] China
• PMID: 33240997 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: 2020 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.