Nutritional intervention in a patient with oncological treatment for breast cancer after metabolic surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity affects cancer prognosis in all aspects. It has been observed that patients with breast cancer and excess adipose tissue have larger primary tumors and higher rates of lymphatic invasion compared to patients of healthy weight. The most effective alternative for sustained weight loss is metabolic surgery, which has recently been of great interest in the field of cancer. However, to date, the effect on patients undergoing metabolic surgery and who have been diagnosed with cancer a few months after surgery is unknown; therefore, the appropriate nutritional approach and the consequences on the patient's body are unknown.Methodology: A 45-year-old female patient underwent metabolic surgery of the gastric sleeve type 6 months after being diagnosed with stage II-A breast cancer. She attended nutritional consultations every 15 days, during a period of 9 months in which anthropometric data, a questionnaire on symptoms and body composition analysis were obtained. Results: During the intervention period, the relevant changes were made to the nutritional treatment, with respect to tolerance and symptoms. At the end of the treatment, the patient had a reduction of 19.1 kg compared to her initial weight. She reached a BMI of 26.9 kg/m2, which changed her diagnosis from type II obesity to overweight. The loss of MME was only 1.2 kg of the initial muscle and with the nutritional treatment the symptoms associated with the chemotherapy were considerably reduced. Conclusions: It will be observed that the nutritional intervention promptly decreases the appearance of adverse effects after oncological treatments and promotes the maintenance of skeletal muscle mass, even after metabolic surgery. In addition, the decrease in adipose tissue and the points previously mentioned improve the prognosis in patients with breast cancer.