[Nutritional status evaluation of elderly patients with prostatic cancer: a mini questionnaire on nutrition].

Mini Nutritional Assessment has been specifically designed to assess the nutritional status of elderly patients and preoperative nutritional evaluation. It can be used for nutritional evaluation in patients receiving treatment for advanced prostate cancer. We assessed 80 patients 65 year age and over. Forty patients were with prostate cancer and 40 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Mini Nutritional Assessment is a clinical score consisting of four items: anthropometric assessment, global evaluation, dietetic assessment and subjective assessment. The Mini Nutritional Assessment stratifies patients in the three categories: well--nourished patients (24 < or = MNA < or = 30), at risk of malnutrition (17 < or = MNA < 23.5) and undernutrition (MNA < 17). Patients suffering from prostate cancer were more likely to be overweight and they had rapid lost of weight. The Mini Nutritional Assessment was found to be well-suited for nutritional evaluation in patients receiving treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Mini Nutritional Assessment requires no complex analysis and can be easily used in hospitals and should be routinely performed.