Purpose: As the practice of nutritional support in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) during curative radio(chemo)therapy is quite heterogeneous, we carried out a survey among European specialists.
Methods: A 19-item questionnaire was drawn up and disseminated via the web by European scientific societies involved in HNC and nutrition.
Results: Among 220 responses, the first choice was always for the enteral route; naso-enteral tube feeding was preferred to gastrostomy in the short term, while the opposite for period longer than 1 month. Indications were not solely related to the patient's nutritional status, but also to the potential burden of the therapy.
Conclusion: European HNC specialists contextualize the use of the nutritional support in a comprehensive plan of therapy. There is still uncertainty relating to the role of naso-enteral feeding versus gastrostomy feeding in patients requiring < 1 month nutritional support, an issue that should be further investigated.
Keywords: Curative treatment; Head and neck cancer; Nutritional support; Survey; Tube feeding.
© 2021. The Author(s).