Intravenous hyperalimentation. An adjunct to treatment of malignant disease of upper gastrointestinal tract.

A prospective search for factors that would anticipate successful nutritional repletion was undertaken in patients with advanced malignant diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract. After two weeks of intravenous hyperalimentation, increasing serum transferrin levels, total lymphocyte counts, and, to a lesser extent, arm muscle circumferences predicted an improved quality of survival, whereas declines in these factors were seen in patients who died. Skin tests, T-lymphocyte counts, albumin levels, and other anthropomorphic measurements were not predictive. The single most useful test was the serum transferrin: in only one patient did it not reflect the eventual outcome of therapy.