Influence of Anticancer Agents on Nutritional Factors

CDDP(Cisplatin) and CBDCA(Carboplatin) are likely to cause nausea and vomiting,which are considered to be factors lowering QOL for patients undergoing chemotherapy.In the present study,our Nutrition Support Team(NST) investigated the influence of cancer chemotherapy regimens using CDDP or CBDCA on ALB(serum albumin value) and TP(serum total protein).All measurements indicated that ALB and TP levels were significantly decreased after chemotherapy(ALB :CDDP p<0.001 CBDCA : p=0.002 TP : CDDP p<0.001 CBDCA p<0.001).Decreases were greater in the CDDP group than in the CBDCA group.ALB decreased by approximately 15% in the CDDP group compared to a decrease of about 6% in the CBDCA group.Decreases of TP were approximately 14% and 5%,respectively.Though we cannot conclude that decreases in ALB and TP levels are definitely due to platinum drugs,we considered that there is a strong relationship between them and the decreases and that CDDP is more likely to cause vomiting and nausea than CBDCA.These findings convince us that the NST needs to continuously monitor the nutritional needs of patients undergoing chemotherapy with platinum drugs even if their nutritional condition was good before chemotherapy.