Abstract
Purpose
Malnutrition is prevalent in head and neck cancer patients and is associated with poorer outcomes and increased health care costs. This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability, organisational efficiency and clinical outcomes of a dietitian-led head and neck cancer clinic.
Methods
Two consecutive, independent, patient cohorts were studied with a pre–post-test design of 98 patients prior to the introduction of a dietitian-led clinic (DLC) and the subsequent 100 patients who attended the newly formulated DLC. The two groups were compared for frequency of dietitian intervention, weight loss, enteral feeding, hospital admissions and post-treatment medical follow-up requirements.
Results
Nutritional management in a DLC was associated with reduced nutrition-related admissions from 12% to 4.5% (p = 0.0029), unplanned nasogastric tube insertions from 75% to 39% (p = 0.02), improved transition to oral diet post-radiotherapy from 68.3% to 76.7% (p = 0.10) and reduced radiation oncologist review at 2 weeks post-radiotherapy from 32% to 15% patients (p = 0.009) compared to the cohort prior to the DLC.
Conclusions
A dietitian-led head and neck cancer clinic is associated with improved efficiency and nutritional management of head and neck cancer patients and offers a feasible model of care.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Ms Anna Boltong, Ms Sally Muir, Ms Wendy Poon, Dr Andrew Coleman, Dr Ieta D’Costa, Dr Chen Liu, Dr Tsien Fua and Dr Mark Lee, PMCC Nutrition Department and Head and Neck Service for their support of the project. This study was undertaken with a supportive care infrastructure grant from the Victorian Cancer Agency. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare, have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the journal to review the data if requested.
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Kiss, N.K., Krishnasamy, M., Loeliger, J. et al. A dietitian-led clinic for patients receiving (chemo)radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Support Care Cancer 20, 2111–2120 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1321-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1321-7