Effect of Oral Nutritional Supplements on Body Weight Loss of Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy(CCRT) is the principal treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC). Studies have shown that malnutrition is very common in patients with NPC after chemoradiotherapy. Malnutrition can lead to weight loss, treatment interruption, prolonged stay in hospital, increased treatment costs, reduced tolerance to anti-tumor therapy, reduced quality of life and shortened survival time. Nutritional intervention can improve the nutritional status, reduce treatment-related toxicity and improve the survival of patients with NPC. The first choice of nutritional intervention is oral nutritional supplements(ONS). Some retrospective studies with small samples have found that early nutritional intervention can reduce weight loss and severe oral mucositis in patients with NPC, compared with late nutritional intervention. Therefore, the investigators proposed the hypothesis that ONS from the beginning of radiotherapy can reduce the nutritional impairment, treatment-related toxicity and treatment costs of patients with NPC, and improve their quality of life. The aim of this multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy and cost utility of ONS from the beginning to the end of radiotherapy.