Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics
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Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. · Jun 2008
Randomized Controlled TrialClinical trial: normal diet vs. partial replacement with oral E028 formula for the prevention of gastrointestinal toxicity in cancer patients undergoing pelvic radiotherapy.
Acute gastrointestinal symptoms affect 90% of patients during pelvic radiotherapy. Elemental diet is protective in animal models. A nonrandomized study suggested benefit from a partial elemental diet. A pilot study suggested that radiotherapy patients only tolerate oral elemental diet comprising one-third of total calories for 3 weeks. ⋯ Patients cannot tolerate large volumes of oral elemental diet. The quantities consumed in this study produced no therapeutic benefit. Future studies should aim to replace a higher proportion of nutritional intake for a longer duration of radiotherapy treatment.