Enteral nutrition in wasting disorders

Cachexia, weight loss, and malnutrition are found commonly in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer and in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. This wasting has been linked not only to survival, but also to alter ations in host defenses, functional ability, and quality of life in these p atients. Enteral nutritional support has been provided to these patients wi th the goal of preventing or correcting malnutrition in an attempt to impro ve measures of mortality, morbidity, and quality of life. Studies presented in this review have examined the impact of the timing, the composition, an d the route of nutritional support on these outcome variables to evaluate t he use of enteral nutritional support in these wasting disorders. There rem ains a paucity of strong clinical evidence that supports any improvements i n outcome variables associated with the provision of enteral nutritional su pport in these patients.