EFFECTS OF NUTRITIONAL THERAPY IN CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH ACUTE LYMPHOID LEUKEMIA: A REVIEW STUDY

Abstract

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of childhood cancer, constituting about one third of all malignant neoplasms in children, characterized by the accumulation of immature lymphoid cells in the bone marrow. Nutritional Therapy, in this context, aims to offer favorable conditions for the establishment of the therapeutic plan, in addition to promoting the recovery of nutritional status, offering energy, fluids and nutrients in adequate amounts to maintain vital functions and homeostasis. The study aimed to verify how nutritional therapy can improve the quality of life of patients diagnosed with ALL. This is an Integrative Literature Review, for the selection of studies, searches were carried out in Medline, SciELO and Pubmed databases, using the descriptors “Nutritional Therapy”; "Quality of life"; “Acute Lymphoid Leukemia” and “Children”. Inclusion criteria were original articles, published between 2011 and 2021 in Portuguese and English. A total of 163 articles were found, of which 23 were selected, resulting in 10 articles for final analysis. According to the articles analyzed, it was found that nutritional therapy enriched with glutamine can effectively improve the systemic nutritional status of children with leukemia and improve immune function. It is observed that the nutritionist has a fundamental role in the multiprofessional team that works in the treatment of ALL, either in the verification of the nutritional status, as in the supplementation of these patients. It is up to the nutritionist, together with the multidisciplinary team, to evaluate and define the ideal nutritional intervention, encourage the child and family members to adhere to treatment and to recover their nutritional status.