Providing nutritional support to patients with thoracic cancer: Findings of a dedicated rehabilitation service

Summary Background National guidelines recommend screening patients with thoracic cancer to identify those requiring nutritional support. To help quantify this area of need, the associated workload and explore its impact, we report findings from a dedicated rehabilitation service. Methods Patients were screened soon after diagnosis to determine the prevalence of malnutrition, and various aspects compared between malnourished and not malnourished groups. A nutritional care plan was instigated and all contacts recorded, together with follow-up body weight. Results Of 243 patients seen, 35% were malnourished which was associated with a palliative treatment intent ( P