Oral glutamine supplements reduce concurrent chemoradiotherapy-induced esophagitis in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Complications related to concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) such as acute radiation-induced esophagitis (ARIE) may cause significant morbidity and unplanned treatment delays in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We designed a prospective randomized study to assess the impact of glutamine (GLN) supplementation in preventing CCRT-induced toxicities of advanced NSCLC patients. METHODS: From September 2014 to September 2015, 60 patients diagnosed with NSCLC were included to the study. Thirty patients (50%) received prophylactic powdered GLN orally at a dose of 10 g/8 h. The prescribed radiation dose to the planning target volume was 30 Gy in 2-Gy fractions. The endpoints were radiation-induced esophagitis, mucositis, body weight loss, overall survival and progression-free survival. RESULTS: The 60 patients with NSCLC included 42 men and 18 women with a mean age ± standard deviation of 60.3 years ± 18.2 (range, 44–78 years). At a median follow-up of 26.4 months (range 10.4–32.2), all patients tolerated GLN well. A administration of GLN was associated with a decrease in the incidence of grade 2 or 3 ARIE (6.7% vs 53.4% for Gln+ vs Gln-; P = .004). GLN supplementation appeared to significantly delay ARIE onset for 5.8 days (18.2 days vs 12.4 days; P = .027) and reduced incidence of weight loss (20% vs 73.3%; P = .01). DISCUSSION: Our study suggests a beneficial effect of oral glutamine supplementation for the prevention from radiation-induced injury and body weight loss in advanced NSCLC patients who receiving CCRT.