Purpose: To investigate the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with enteral nutrition on perioperative immunity, inflammation and intestinal flora in gastric cancer patients.
Methods: A total of 96 gastric cancer patients scheduled to undergo operation were selected and randomly divided into the observation group (n=48) and the control group (n=48). The patients in the control group were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy before operation, while those in the observation group received enteral nutrition before operation based on the treatment in the control group. The changes in immune indexes, inflammatory indexes and intestinal flora were compared between the two groups.
Results: After treatment, the levels of serum interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-6, IL-10 and C-reactive protein (CRP) elevated gradually, while the level of serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) lowered gradually in both groups (p<0.05). The indexes of nutritional status in the control group declined gradually after operation, and the levels of nutritional indexes, T cell subsets and immunoglobulins in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). In the observation group, after operation, the levels of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus rose gradually, but those of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus exhibited progressive decline (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with enteral nutrition can markedly relieve the perioperative inflammatory responses, improve the body immunity and maintain the structure of intestinal flora in gastric cancer patients, so it has certain clinical application value.