AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance with ABC-structured prompts improves short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms after gastrointestinal cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial.
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Emergency Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
- 2Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
- 3Department of Pharmacy, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
- 4Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Postoperative nutritional management is critical for gastrointestinal cancer surgery patients, yet discharge advice is often standardized and lacks individualization. Whether an AI-facilitated individualized and quantified strategy improves short-term dietary intake compared with standard generic advice remains unclear; this trial does not isolate the independent effect of AI.Objective
To determine whether AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance using structured prompts improves short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms versus standard discharge advice.Methods
In this single-center, randomized controlled trial, 90 patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric or colorectal cancer surgery were assigned 1:1 to AI-facilitated individualized guidance generated by DeepSeek v3.2 using an ABC-structured prompt plus clinician review or standard discharge dietary advice (standard care group). The intervention combined AI, individualization, quantified targets, written guidance, and clinician review; the trial cannot isolate AI alone. Primary outcome was energy intake adequacy (≥ 90% of target) at 30 days post-discharge. Secondary outcomes included protein intake adequacy, nutritional status, patient-reported outcomes, process measures (expert-rated quality scores, provider time), and 30-day complications. Outcome assessors were blinded to group assignment.Results
Baseline characteristics were well-balanced between groups. The AI-guided group achieved significantly higher energy adequacy (66.7% vs. 40.0%, OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.3-7.1, P = 0.01) and protein adequacy (62.2% vs. 35.6%, OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2-6.8, P = 0.01) at 30 days. Expert-rated quality scores were superior in the AI-guided group for completeness (4.6 vs. 3.2), individualization (4.8 vs. 2.8), and actionability (4.5 vs. 3.5) (all P < 0.001), while provider time per patient was reduced (8.2 vs. 12.5 min, P < 0.001). Patient-reported outcomes showed significant improvements in fatigue, nausea/vomiting, appetite loss, and gastrointestinal symptoms (GSRS total score 2.1 vs. 2.5, P = 0.03) in the AI-guided group. No significant differences were observed in weight change, serum nutritional markers, or complication rates.Conclusion
AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance improved short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms and reduced provider time compared with standard generic advice. These findings do not show that AI itself is superior to similarly individualized non-AI counseling and do not establish longer-term nutritional or clinical benefit. Clinical supervision remains essential.
Related
- Evaluating the effectiveness of the eHealth-faciLitated SMILe–integrated care model on treatment burden, quality of life and graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: results of two European randomized controlled implementation studies
- Parenteral Nutrition Exposure, Nutritional Trajectory, and Clinical Outcomes in Neonates with Surgical Gastrointestinal Conditions: A Retrospective Cohort Study
- Hormonal and nutritional biomarkers in immune checkpoint inhibition for gastrointestinal cancers: a narrative review
- Individualized Or Conventional Transfusion Strategy During Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support (ICONE Study): Rationale and Design of a Prospective Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial
- Nutritional Exposures and Cognitive Impairment in Alcohol Use Disorder: A Structured Narrative Review of Prioritized Human Evidence
BibTeX
@article{chen2026aifacilitated,
title = {{AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance with ABC-structured prompts improves short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms after gastrointestinal cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial.}},
author = {Hao Chen and Wei Jiang and Meng Li and Sheng Zhang},
journal = {Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s00520-026-11401-7},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955117},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance with ABC-structured prompts improves short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms after gastrointestinal cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial.
AU - Hao Chen
AU - Wei Jiang
AU - Meng Li
AU - Sheng Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
DO - 10.1007/s00520-026-11401-7
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42955117
AB - Background Postoperative nutritional management is critical for gastrointestinal cancer surgery patients, yet discharge advice is often standardized and lacks individualization. Whether an AI-facilitated individualized and quantified strategy improves short-term dietary intake compared with standard generic advice remains unclear; this trial does not isolate the independent effect of AI.Objective To determine whether AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance using structured prompts improves short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms versus standard discharge advice.Methods In this single-center, randomized controlled trial, 90 patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric or colorectal cancer surgery were assigned 1:1 to AI-facilitated individualized guidance generated by DeepSeek v3.2 using an ABC-structured prompt plus clinician review or standard discharge dietary advice (standard care group). The intervention combined AI, individualization, quantified targets, written guidance, and clinician review; the trial cannot isolate AI alone. Primary outcome was energy intake adequacy (≥ 90% of target) at 30 days post-discharge. Secondary outcomes included protein intake adequacy, nutritional status, patient-reported outcomes, process measures (expert-rated quality scores, provider time), and 30-day complications. Outcome assessors were blinded to group assignment.Results Baseline characteristics were well-balanced between groups. The AI-guided group achieved significantly higher energy adequacy (66.7% vs. 40.0%, OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.3-7.1, P = 0.01) and protein adequacy (62.2% vs. 35.6%, OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2-6.8, P = 0.01) at 30 days. Expert-rated quality scores were superior in the AI-guided group for completeness (4.6 vs. 3.2), individualization (4.8 vs. 2.8), and actionability (4.5 vs. 3.5) (all P < 0.001), while provider time per patient was reduced (8.2 vs. 12.5 min, P < 0.001). Patient-reported outcomes showed significant improvements in fatigue, nausea/vomiting, appetite loss, and gastrointestinal symptoms (GSRS total score 2.1 vs. 2.5, P = 0.03) in the AI-guided group. No significant differences were observed in weight change, serum nutritional markers, or complication rates.Conclusion AI-facilitated individualized nutritional guidance improved short-term dietary intake adequacy and patient-reported symptoms and reduced provider time compared with standard generic advice. These findings do not show that AI itself is superior to similarly individualized non-AI counseling and do not establish longer-term nutritional or clinical benefit. Clinical supervision remains essential.
SN - 0941-4355
SN - 1433-7339
ER -