Abstract 1832P
Background
Undernutrition is very common in patients treated for cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract, before the start of treatment: 30 to 50% of patients with ENT cancer are undernourished during and after radiotherapy: may concern up to 44 to 88 % patients.
Methods
This is a prospective study, carried out in the medical oncology department of the Salah Azaiz Institute in Tunis over a period of 31 days from November 11, 2019 to January 21, 2020 including patients followed for cancer of the head and neck.
Results
70 patients, 50 men and 20 women were included in the study. The median age was 56.9 years. 27% of patients were followed for larynx cancer, 21% for thyroid cancer, 19% for parotid cancer and 11% for nasopharyngeal cancer. The average weight of our population was 67 kg with extremes 32 and 109 kg. The average BMI of our population was 24.45 kg /m2. The average weight loss for our population was 5.65 kg with extremes of 0 kg and 40 kg. Patients followed for nasopharyngeal cancer experienced more significant weight loss than other cancers followed by vocal cord cancer and hypopharynx cancer. Weight loss is all the more significant for patients treated with RT-CT cc. The overall subjective assessment had been carried out for patients with an age <65 years The number of patients investigated by the DETSKI index was 53 patients. The MNA score was achieved for patients with an age> = 65 years 17 patients were investigated by the MNA. Normal nutritional status was observed in 24% of patients, a risk of undernutrition in 41% and proven undernutrition in 35% of patients over 65 years. We made a correlation between undernutrition and the various factors: age, stage of the disease, origin, educational level, marital status and location of cancer and treatment. No statistically significant relationship was found between these factors and undernutrition. Table: 1832P
| Subjective overall assessment population | Men (effective) | Women (effective) |
| Undernutrition absent | 26 | 10 |
| Moderate undernutrition | 5 | 4 |
| Severe undernutrition | 4 | 4 |
Conclusions
Nutritional management is an essential part of care of these patients, including early screening, assessment of nutritional status and appropriate intervention.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.