Immunonutrition effects in the treatment of cancer patients and its complications - a review

The aim of this study was to review and summarize the data from the literature regarding the effects of pre- and postoperative immunonutrition in the outcome of cancer patients. The review was conducted through literature searches in databases such as Medline/Pubmed, Scielo and Lilacs, from July to September 2014, for articles investigating the effects of immunonutrition related to nutritional recovery and pre- and post-operative procedures in cancer patients. We found 32 articles, 27 of which met the inclusion criteria, including review articles, case-control studies, epidemiological studies and cross-sectional studies. From this literature review it was possible to see the benefits of using preoperative immunomodulating diet in cancer patients undergoing major abdominal surgery, including reduction of septic and inflammatory complications during postoperative period and hence the hospital length of stay. Thus, the use of immunonutrition has been shown to be capable to reverse organic and immunological changes caused by both malnutrition and the tumor itself in cancer patients.