Nutritional Management of Patients with Head and Neck Cancer-A Comprehensive Review

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 1864
• Main Authors: Martinovic, Dinko, Tokic, Daria, Puizina Mladinic, Ema, Usljebrka, Mislav, Kadic, Sanja, Lesin, Antonella, Vilovic, Marino, Lupi-Ferandin, Slaven, Ercegovic, Sasa, Kumric, Marko, Bukic, Josipa, Bozic, Josko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Cancer; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Chemotherapy; clinical nutrition; Complications; Dysphagia; Enteral nutrition; Enteral Nutrition - methods; Food; Food intake; Gastrointestinal system; Gastrointestinal tract; Head & neck cancer; Head and neck cancer; Head and Neck Neoplasms - surgery; head and neck surgery; Humans; Infections; Malnutrition; Malnutrition - etiology; Malnutrition - prevention & control; Medical nutrition therapy; Mortality; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Nutritional Support; oromaxillofacial surgery; Parenteral nutrition; Patients; Prevention; Quality of Life; Radiation therapy; Recovery (Medical); Review; Risk factors; Sarcopenia; Signs and symptoms; Surgery; Surgical outcomes; Croatia; head and neck surgery; head and neck cancer; clinical nutrition; oromaxillofacial surgery
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15081864

While surgical therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) is showing improvement with the advancement of reconstruction techniques, the focus in these patients should also be shifting to supportive pre and aftercare. Due to the highly sensitive and anatomically complex region, these patients tend to exhibit malnutrition, which has a substantial impact on their recovery and quality of life. The complications and symptoms of both the disease and the therapy usually make these patients unable to orally intake food, hence, a strategy should be prepared for their nutritional management. Even though there are several possible nutritional modalities that can be administrated, these patients commonly have a functional gastrointestinal tract, and enteral nutrition is indicated over the parenteral option. However, after extensive research of the available literature, it seems that there is a limited number of studies that focus on this important issue. Furthermore, there are no recommendations or guidelines regarding the nutritional management of HNC patients, pre- or post-operatively. Henceforth, this narrative review summarizes the nutritional challenges and management modalities in this particular group of patients. Nonetheless, this issue should be addressed in future studies and an algorithm should be established for better nutritional care of these patients.