Nutritional Support Antineoplastic Therapy Principles of IV Therapy BSN336

Nutritional Support Antineoplastic Therapy

Principles of IV Therapy

BSN336

Nutritional Support

The care of individuals with potential or known nutritional alterations.

Nutritional Support

Goals of Parenteral nutrition include:• Provide all essential nutrients in adequate

amounts to sustain nutritional balance during periods when oral or eteral routes of feedings are not possible or are insufficient to meet the patient’s caloric needs.

• Preserve or restore the body’s protein metabolism and prevent the development of protein or caloric malnutrition

Nutritional Support

Diminish the rate of weight loss and to maintain or increase body weight.

Promote wound healing Replace nutritional deficits

Concepts of Nutrition

Nutritional balance depends on 3 things: Intake of nutrients (Quantity and Quality) Relative need for nutrients Ability of the body to use nutrients


Nutritional Deficiency• Body’s components are used to provide

energy for essential metabolic processes

Malnutrition• Nutritional deficit associated with an

increased risk of morbidity and mortality


Three types of Malnutrition: Marasmus – decrease in the intake of calories

with adequate protein calorie ratio. Gradual wasting

Kwashiorkor – adequate intake of calories along with a poor protein intake.

Mixed Malnutrition – characterized by aspects of both Marasmus, and kwashiorkor

Nutritional Assessment

Mild malnutrition: 85 to 95 % IBW Moderate malnutrition: 75 to 84% IBW Severe Malnutrition: less than 75% IBW Biochemical Assessment:

• Serum Albumin and Transferrin Levels

• Prealbumin and Retinol-Binding protein

• Total Lymphocyte Count

• Serum Electrolytes

Nutritional Requirements

Carbohydrates: provide energy• Glucose provides calories in parenteral sol.

• Spare body protein

Fats: primary source of heat and energy• Essential for the structural integrity of all cell

membranes

• Fewer problems with glucose homeostasis, carbon dioxide production is lower, hepatic tolerence may improve

• EFAD – Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency


Protein: body-building nutrient, functions to promote tissue growth and repair and replacement of body cells.• Amino Acids are the basic units of protein

• 8 essential Amino Acids needed by adults

Electrolytes: infused as a component already contained in the amino acid solution or as an additive


Vitamins: necessary for growth and maintenance, multiple metabolic processes• Both fat and water soluble are needed

• Vitamin K can be given IM

Trace Elements: Basic requirements are very small but essential

Parenteral Nutrition Medication Additives

Insulin Heparin Histamine 2 (H2) Inhibitors

• Cimetidine, Pepsid, Reglan, Zantac

Admixture Complications

1. Amounts of Calcium and Phosphorus added

2. Phosphate Ions

3. Line should be flushed: incompatible components

4. Lipid emulsion: obscure presence of precipitates

Admixture Complications

5. Filter used for administration: 1.2 micron

6. Administered with in 24hr after mixing or removal from the refrigerator

7. If symptoms of acute respiratory distress, pulmonary embolus, or interstitial pneumonitis develop stop immediately, check for precipitates

Antineoplastic Therapy

Goal of therapy:• Curative: given as primary therapy

• Palliative: symptom management


Basic considerations in chemotherapy treatment:1. Smaller the tumor burden the easier the

patient is to treat2. Surgical dubulking decreases the tumor

burden and recruits resting malignant cells to start dividing, thereby increasing the sensitivity to chemotherapy.

3. The higher the dose, the better the chance for response


4. Doses are altered based on the degree of toxicity the patient experiences

5. Therapeutic margin is the difference between the dose producing the desired benefit and the dose resulting in unacceptable toxicity.

6. The therapeutic margin is narrow compared with that of other types of drugs

Cell Cycle

Chemotherapy exerts a cytotoxic action by interfering with the reproductive cell cycle

Cancer cells are the intended target, but cytotoxic action also affects normal cells

Cell Cycle

Five phases complete the cell growth cycle: G0, G1, S, G2, and M

G refers to gap phases or the time when the cell is preparing for a more active phase of reproduction

Cells can be come resting and nondividing

Cell Cycle

G1: the first growth phase characterized by the production of RNA, enzymes and proteins, essential to later cycles

S phase: enzymes necessary for DNA synthesis increase in activity. Predominant event is the production of DNA, the genetic code of all information needed for cell life.

Cell Cycle

G2: another resting phase, Tna and protein necessary for mitosis are synthesized.

M phase: last phase, mitosis takes place, lasts about ½ hour to 1 hour.

The phases of the cell cycle are correlated to the efficacy of the antineoplastic agents for specific types of cancer

Most agents kill only cells that are actively reproducing,

Tumor Kinetics

Cycling cells: cells that are dividing continuously

Nondividing cells: cells that divide for a time and then complete their life cycle with out dividing again

G0 or resting cells: further divided into • Stem cells: replenish the stem cell pool

• Nonstem cells: differentiate and enter the maturing groups of cells

Growth Fraction

Cell cycle time: amount of time required to move from one mitosis to another

Growth fraction: percentage of cycling cells in the entire cell population

Total number of cells Rate of cell loss or the number of cells

that die or leave the cell population

Doubling Time

As the tissue mass increases in size, the doubling time slows

Decrease in nutrition available for each cell as the total mass increases and blood supply is outgrown

Tumor cells may die spontaneously

Cell Kill Hypothesis

Certain drugs doses destroy a constant fraction of tumor cells in the body, rather than a constant number of cells

Cell kill caused by antineoplastic drugs is related to the relative growth fraction of the tumor at the time of treatment

Drug Resistance

Cell resistance to drug therapy can be natural or aquired.

Antineoplastic Agents

Classifications: classified according to the cell life cycle• Cell cycle phase-specific (CCS) agents

• Cell cycle phase-nonspecific (CCNS) agents

Combination Chemotherapy: Drugs given in specific combinations to work at different phases of the cell cycle


Reductive Therapy: debulking, decreases the body burden of cancer cells

Adjuvant Chemotherapy: administration of chemotherapy to destroy micrometastasis and to prevent secondary tumors


Intermittent Therapy: Intermittent high-dose (pulse) therapy with CCS and CCNs agents gives better therapeutic results with fewer toxic side effect than more frequent divided doses. Yields better cell kill.


Chemotherapy Dosing:• Dose calculations using Body Surface Area

(BSA)• Formula: BSA x mg/m2 = total dose

• Dose Calculation using the Calvert Formula• Attempts to individualize the does so that optimal

therapeutic response is achieved without toxic effects

Classes of Drugs

Alkylating Agents: mustard Gas• Effect the DNA thereby blocking replication

• CCNS act at any stage Antimetabolites: Low molecular weight

compounds that exert their effect because of similarity to naturally occurring metabolites involved in nucleic acid synthesis• Folic acid antagonists, pyrimidine antagonists, purine

antagonists, and immunosuppresant azathioprine (Imuran)

Classes of Drugs

Mitotic Inhibitors: Natural products, modes of action are different• Vinblastine, vincristine, etoposide, taxol,

Cytotoxic Antibiotics: produced by the mold streptomyces• Bleomycin, Dactinomycin, Mitomycin

Topoisomerase-1 Inhibitors: activity against a broad range of tumors• Inhibit the enzyme topoisomerase-1 causing reversible

single strand DNA breaks

Classes of Drugs

Miscellaneous:• Altretamine

• L-Asparaginase

• Cladribine

• Hydroxyurea

• Mitotane

• Hormonal agents

Classes of Drugs

Hormones and Hormone Antagonists:• Steroidal estrogens, progestins, androgens,

corticosteroids and synthetic derivatives Biotherapy: six categories

• Cytokines

• Monoclonal antibodies,

• Differentiation agents

• Cellular therapies

• Immunostimulants

• Gene thereapy

Short term Complications

Venous Fragility Alopecia Diarrhea Constipation Altered Nutritional Status Anorexia and Alteration in Taste Fatigue

Acute Reactions

Hypersensitivity and Anaphylaxis Extravasation Stomatitis and Mucositis Nausea and Vomiting Myelosupression Neutropenia Thrombocytopenia Anemia

Toxicities

Neurotoxicity Cardiac Toxicity Pulmonary Toxicity Renal Toxicity

Routes of Administration

Intravenous Intrathecal Regional Intra-arterial Intraperitoneal Cerebrospinal Fluid Reservoirs Infusion Pumps

Documents

Nutritional Support Antineoplastic Therapy Principles of IV Therapy BSN336