Nutritional management of patients with head and neck cancer: Integrating research into practice

Malnutrition is known to be a problem in head and neck cancer throughout all phases of treatment and rehabilitation. Nutrition interventions have demonstrated beneficial intermediate outcomes. Despite this, nutrition services for this patient group are not consistent across Australia. Routine screening procedures should be implemented in multidisciplinary head and neck clinics and treatment areas to identify patients who are at nutritional risk. Close collaboration is particularly important for the speech pathologist and dietitian in order to manage dysphagia and its nutritional consequences. Guidelines for the nutritional management of these patients will assist in service provision. Early referral to a dietitian and speech pathologist, combined with good symptom management by the healthcare team, are crucial to optimising nutrition outcomes.