Prospective, randomised, comparative trail in head and neck cancer patients with short term enteral alimentation at TCC, coastal district of Vishakhapatnam, India

INTRODUCTION Head and neck cancer is the leading cancer in India and is linked mainly to tobacco chewing and smoking. Radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy is the current standard of care for locally advanced head and neck cancers. Patients with head and neck cancer undergoing curative treatment generally requires enteral nutritional support. This may be due to tumor effects leading to pre-treatment weight loss or anticipated acute toxicities of treatment (eg. Mucositis pain, anorexia, xerostomia). Historically, enteral feeding was performed using nasogastric tubes (NGTs). During late 1980s and early 1990s, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) embraced by most head and neck cancer centers as the preferred feeding tube, with little in the way of scientific data on the relative advantages or disadvantages.