Early nutritional intervention improves treatment tolerance and outcomes in head and neck cancer patients undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy

Goals of work Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing chemoradiotherapy are at high risk of malnutrition, which is related to complication rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of an early intensive nutritional intervention on nutritional status and outcomes in patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy for HNC. Materials and methods We analysed retrospectively the clinical documentation of 33 HNC patients who were referred for early nutritional intervention (nutrition intervention group, NG) before they were submitted to chemoradiotherapy. The outcome of these patients was compared to that of 33 patients who received chemoradiotherapy without receiving a specifically designed early nutrition support programme (control group, CG). Main results NG patients lost less weight during chemoradiotherapy compared to CG patients (−4.6 ± 4.1% vs −8.1 ± 4.8% of pre-treatment weight, p 5 days) for toxicity (30.3% vs 63.6%, p