Assessment of nutritional proteins during the parenteral nutrition of cancer patients.

Albumin, prealbumin, retinol-binding protein, and transferrin were all measured on the sera of 39 cancer patients before and during parenteral nutrition (PN). At the outset of PN, the concentrations of all of these proteins were low, as compared to reference values, and thus quantitatively reflected the degree of malnutrition. Prealbumin proved to be the most interesting parameter during PN: (1) during an initial period it rapidly reflects the nutritional input, and (2) after two weeks of PN it allows differentiation of patients whose prealbumin level rises regularly during PN and will survive from those patients whose prealbumin level drops after the initial period and will die during or within the month following PN. Prealbumin thus offers a means for biochemical monitoring of PN as well as having a prognostic value.