Evolution of Nutritional Status in Patients with Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Surgical Treatment or Organ Preservation Protocol

Abstract

We sought to evaluate the evolution of the nutritional status of patients with advanced cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract undergoing surgical treatment (SURG) or organ preservation protocol (OP). Evaluations were conducted at the beginning and end of treatment, including weight, body composition and Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Each group was comprised of 29 patients. Initially, malnutrition rates were 65.5% and 51.7% in the SURG and OP groups, respectively. At the end, the values went to 55.1% in SURG and 79.3% in OP. In the OP, there was a reduction in weight (P = 0.001), fat mass (P = 0.006), fat free mass (P = 0.002), and muscle mass (P = 0.005) and an increase in scores of the PG-SGA (P = 0.008). The same was not observed in SURG, except for the weight decrease (P = 0.025). Malnutrition was prevalent in both treatment groups and patients in OP were at greater risk of nutritional decline.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful for the Teaching and Research Institute of Barretos Cancer Hospital to support this research.

Authors’ Contributions

NS and RC conceived the project and design of the study. NS and IC collected of the data. NS, IC, LP, TM, RC contributed to the analysis, interpretation of data and editing of the manuscript. VG reviewed the manuscript. All authors read carefully and approved the manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [Naira M. F. Silva], upon reasonable request.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.