Trial reportEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2007
Clinical and biochemical outcomes after a randomized trial with a high dose of enteral arginine formula in postsurgical head and neck cancer patients.
Trial report in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guidelines for nutrition in adults with head and neck cancer: The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition · 2026Guideline
- Nutrition Interventions in the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Symptoms during Cancer Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of immunonutrition in head and neck cancer surgery: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Acta otorhinolaryngologica Italica : organo ufficiale della Societa italiana di otorinolaringologia e chirurgia cervico-facciale · 2025Pooled it
- Nutrition as prevention for improved cancer health outcomes: a systematic literature review.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2023Pooled it
- Body Composition Evaluation in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: A Review.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Pooled it
- Immunonutrition for patients undergoing surgery for head and neck cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Review
- Article
- Effect of preoperative immunonutrition on complications after salvage surgery in head and neck cancer.Journal of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery = Le Journal d'oto-rhino-laryngologie et de chirurgie cervico-faciale · 2019Article
- Preoperative Immunonutrition and Elective Colorectal Resection Outcomes.Diseases of the colon and rectum · 2017Article
- Micronutrients, Arginine, and Glutamine: Does Supplementation Provide an Efficient Tool for Prevention and Treatment of Different Kinds of Wounds?Advances in wound care · 2014Review
- Arginine-supplemented enteral nutrition.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2014Article
- Nutrition support and therapy in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.Current gastroenterology reports · 2012Review
- Early nutritional intervention improves treatment tolerance and outcomes in head and neck cancer patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePatients with head and neck cancer undergoing surgery have a high incidence of postoperative complications. The aim of our study was to investigate whether postoperative nutrition of head and neck cancer patients, using a higher dose of arginine-enhanced diet (17 g/day) than previous studies, could improve nutritional variables as well as clinical outcomes, when compared with a control enteral diet.
designRandomized clinical trial.
settingTertiary care. SUBJECTS: A population of 72 patients with oral and laryngeal cancer was enrolled.
interventionsAt surgery, patients were randomly allocated to two groups: (a) 35 patients receiving an arginine-enhanced formula with arginine (group I) and (b) 37 patients receiving an isocaloric, isonitrogenous enteral formula (group II).
resultsNo significant intergroup differences in the trend of the three plasma proteins (albumin, transferrin, prealbumin) and lymphocytes were detected. Episodes of diarrhea rate were equal in both groups (22.8% group I and 21.6% group II: NS). The postoperative infections complications were equal in both groups (5.7% group I and 5.4% group II: NS). Fistula (wound complication) was less frequent in enriched nutrition group (2.8% group I and 18.9% group II: P<0.05), whereas wound infection was similar in both groups. The length of postoperative stay was similar in both (27.9+/-21 vs 28.2+/-12 days; NS).
conclusionsAt this dose, arginine-enhanced formula improves fistula rates in postoperative head and neck cancer patients without a high rate of diarrhea.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.