Nutritional support for cancer bearing patients]

A care system for cancer bearing patients at a highly advanced stage should be informed by a better quality of life based on a life style of the patients and their families. These patients are suffering from various types of trouble including pain, loss of appetite and nausea, which preclude oral intake. Radiotherapy or chemotherapy can be another factor aggravating their nutritional state. In terms of nutritional management, intravenous or enteral alimentation is indispensable, but these conventional alimentary supports generally lead to prolonged hospitalization and re-admission. If parenteral nutritional care can be given to patients at home and not in the hospital, it is leading to the improved quality of life would result. We focus on the issue of home alimentary care, especially intravenous alimentation, for cancer patients at the terminal stage from the nursing standpoint.