Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Malnutrition affects 30-50% of patients with hematological malignancies; it is due to the disease itself, the treatment-related catabolic process and chemo-or radio-therapy side effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and mucositis). Patients with poor nutritional status have increased morbidity (treatment complications, infections, mucositis) and mortality.

AimTo evaluate the nutritional status of all patients that underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HPSCT) in our center during April-November 2021

Methods: A novel morphofunctionalnutritional evaluation (included electrical bioimpedance, handgrip dynamometry, biochemistry, abdominal adipose ultrasoundand rectus femoris muscle ultrasound) was performed baseline and 24±9 days after HPSCT.

Results: Forty-eight patients were included; mean age 50.2±14.6;62.5% males. Lymphomas was the most common cause of HPSCT (35%), and most patients underwent an autologous transplant (56.3%). At baseline severe and moderate malnutrition (using the GLIM criteria) were observed in 21%and 37.5% of patients respectively, despite only 21% presented with BMI<20 kg/m². Patients lost weight during the study period (5.6±3.1%; p<0.05), especially fat free mass (16.7±2.3 vs 18.4±6.5; p<0.05), serum albumin levels, superficial and deep abdominal adipose tissue, as well as thecircumference of rectus femoris significantly decreased in most patients during follow-up (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Malnutrition is observed in more than 50% of patients before theHPSCT despite normal or increased BMI. Significant weight loss during the first days after HPSCT worsens the nutritional status of these patients. The novel morphofunctional nutritional evaluation provides early and additional information that could have prognostic value. Routine nutritional evaluation should be performed in all patients before HPSCT.