A randomized phase II study to assess the effectiveness of fluid therapy or intensive nutritional support on survival in patients with advanced cancer who cannot be nourished via enteral route

Experts advise against parenteral nutrition (PN) for patients with advanced cancer at the end of life. But because many patients and families fear starvation, many physicians administer PN to patients with terminal cancer in Korea. We designed this study to investigate the effect of PN on survival in patients with terminal cancer at the end of life. We planned a randomized phase II study enrolling 116 patients randomized to receive either fluid or PN. Eligible patients are who could not tolerate enteral feeding and had short life expectancies (