ABSTRACT
The use of intravenous postoperative nutritional support is currently under investigation in different clinical settings as a result of the growing recognition that nutrition can play a major role in wound healing and host defense against infection as well as providing essential protein calorie support when normal dietary intake is feasible. The role of nutritional supplementation in the tumor-bearing host, however, has been found to present complex issues, since there may be a danger of supporting tumor growth, either directly through supply of a critical substrate or indirectly through affecting host defense against the tumor negatively through effects on the immune system. The specificity of nutritional support appears to have particular significance for the cancer patient, since both deficiency or excess may affect the balance of critical immune reactions on subpopulations, which may have effects on tumor response. Arginine is very effective in abrogating the thymolytic effects of stress, as defined by Hans Selye.
