TAILORED NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT AS A PREDICTIVE FACTOR FOR SURVIVAL IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER PATIENTS UNDERGOING TREATMENTS

The purpose of the present study was to explore the prognostic relevance of tailored nutritional intervention in patients affected by head and neck (HNC) undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. We retrospectively analysed data from patients affected by HNC (stage II-IV), diagnosed between April 2010 and August 2016 at the AOUI of Verona and undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Descriptive statistics was adopted. Clinical, pathological and nutritional data were correlated with Overall Survival (OS) using a Cox model. Overall data from 87 patients were gathered. Forty-one patients (47.1%) received an individualized nutritional intervention, including tailored nutritional counselling by a skilled dietitian, in addition to oral nutritional supplements, addressing the patients’ needs, and 46 patients (52.9%) did not receive that, without significant differences for baseline clinical and pathological characteristics. At the multivariate analysis, the independent significant predictors of OS were the response or stable disease after the first line treatment (HR 4.62,p