Stratégies de prise en charge nutritionnelle spécifiques : l'enfant en cancérologie

In children with cancer, malnutrition may antedate the diagnosis or be a result of aggressive chemotherapeutic regimens. The prevalence of malnutrition at diagnosis is related to the type of tumour and the extent of the disease, ranging from < 10% in patients with standard-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to 50% in children with advanced neuroblastoma. The pathogenis of the energy imbalance that underlies the development of malnutrition is complex, including increased breakdown of fat and protein as well as energy-consumptive changes in carbohydrate metabolism (Cori cycle). Despite several confounding factors (different definitions of nutritional status and the wide variety of measures used for its assessment), studies have shown decreased tolerance of chemotherapy associated with altered metabolism of antineoplastic drugs, increased infection rates, altered quality of life and possibly poor clinical outcome in malnourished patients. In this article, we review guidelines for the nutritional management of a child with cancer and we purpose an algorithm for nutritional support.