Preoperative nutritional support at home in head and neck cancer patients: from nutritional benefits to the prevention of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Preoperative nutritional support in severely malnourished patients decreases complications after major surgery. This review summarizes previous studies on head and neck cancer patients undergoing surgery, and offers recommendations on preoperative nutritional support based on the literature and our experience. RECENT FINDINGS: Head and neck cancer has a large impact on the patient's quality of life and a high mortality rate. Aggressive surgical resection followed by soft-tissue and osseous reconstruction is the gold standard of treatment. The incidence of postoperative complications is high at 20-50%. Malnutrition and alcohol withdrawal syndrome are often present, and are considered risk factors for developing wound infection after head and neck cancer surgery. Proactive intervention by preoperative nutritional support may correct nutrient deficiencies, minimize malnutrition-related morbidity and mortality, reduce the length and cost of hospitalization, and may prevent alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Nutritional support given preoperatively for 7-10 days decreases postoperative complications by approximately 10% in malnourished patients with weight loss of 10% or more. Oral liquid supplements and enteral nutrition are useful to support head and neck cancer patients preoperatively. Enteral nutrition is safer, more physiological, less expensive and practicable at home compared with parenteral nutrition, which is not usually indicated in these patients. SUMMARY: Enteral nutrition is efficient in preoperative phase to prevent postoperative complications. However evidence is insufficient to conclude that preoperative immune-enhancing enteral feeding provides any supplementary benefit by comparison with a standard diet. Our experience with the preoperative approach in head and neck cancer patients is reported in this paper