European journal of clinical nutrition
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Immunoenhanced enteral nutrition, effect on inflammatory markers in head and neck cancer patients.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of enteral nutrition supplemented with arginine in inflammatory markers in surgical head and neck cancer patients. A population of 29 patients with oral and laryngeal cancer were enrolled in a randomized trial. At surgery patients were randomly allocated to two groups: (a) patients receiving an enteral diet supplements with arginine (group I, n=14); (b) patients receiving an isocaloric, isonitrogenous enteral formula (group II, n=15). ⋯ Tumoral necrosis factor alpha and lymphocytes did not change. In conclusion, both formulas improved IL-6 and CRP levels. Further studies are needed to determine whether type of formula is the key in these patients or genetic background play a main role in inflammatory response.