Nutritional Counseling Improves Outcomes for Patients with Head and Neck Cancers

A drive to include nutritional counseling in care regimens appears well founded in the case of head and neck cancers, according to a recent study that indicates a nutritional plan improves outcomes when implemented prior to treatment.

Thirty-three patients with head and neck cancer who followed an early nutrition support program designed for a recent Italian study lost less weight following radiation therapy and chemotherapy than the patients in the control group, according to Agostino Paccagnella et al in the Aug. 30, 2009, article “Early Nutritional Intervention Improves Treatment Tolerance and Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.”

Participants on the nutrition program also experienced fewer breaks from radiation therapy due to toxicity, 30.3 percent vs. 63.6 percent of the control group. The researchers also found a linear correlation between the percentage of weight lost from baseline to treatment completion and the days of radiation delays. In addition, fewer patients in the nutrition group had an unplanned hospitalization.

“Early nutrition intervention in patients with head and neck cancer receiving chemoradiotherapy resulted in an improved treatment tolerance and fewer admissions to hospital,” concluded the authors. “This result suggests that nutritional intervention must be initiated before chemoradiotherapy, and it needs to be continued after treatment completion.”

The study was published online Aug. 30 at www.springer.com/medicine/oncology/journal/520.