The Impact of Whole-Course Immunonutrition Management on Patients With Stage III and IV Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Undergoing Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of whole-course immunonutrition management (WIM) on patients with stage III and IV nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) undergoing radiotherapy.

Methods: A total of 103 patients with NPC admitted to our hospital between October 2021 and June 2023 were assigned to receive either conventional nursing (routine group, n = 51) or WIM therapy (experimental group, n = 52) according to different nursing methods. Outcome measures included nutritional status assessment, haematological indicators, adverse reactions and the social support situation.

Results: Following the intervention, the WIM approach was associated with a significantly lower incidence of adverse reactions compared with routine nursing care (p < 0.05). Specifically, the experimental group had a significantly lower incidence of nausea (p = 0.0341), vomiting (p = 0.0279) and high-level oral mucositis (III/IV) (p = 0.0238) compared with the routine group. In terms of the nutritional status, patients in the experimental group maintained better body mass index (BMI) and body weight, with significant differences observed in total protein levels (p < 0.05) throughout the trial, indicating improved nutritional outcomes. However, no significant differences were found in the changes of BMI between the two groups. The social support situation was also significantly better in the experimental group, as evidenced by a greater improvement in the social support rating scale scores (p = 0.0017).

Conclusions: Whole-course immunonutrition management can improve the nutritional status of patients with NPC treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy, reduce the severity of radiation-induced nasopharyngeal and oral reactions and relieve side effects.