Nutritional assessment in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Background/aims: Protein-calorie malnutrition that occurs in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus presents defined implications in surgical results. The present study aims to establish a nutritional score for malnutrition to measure the prevalence of protein-calorie malnutrition and to determine parameters with higher discriminatory power for protein-calorie malnutrition diagnosis.

Methodology: Forty-five (45) patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (cases) and 90 surgical patients (controls) were analyzed using twelve parameters: percentage of body weight loss, triceps and subscapular skin fold, mid arm circumference and arm muscle circumference, serum total proteins, albumin, transferin, pre-albumin, hematocrit, total lymphocyte count and late hypersensitivity skin tests.