Background: To assess the efficacy of prophylactic versus reactive feeding strategy in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) patients receiving adjuvant radiation therapy (RT).
Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of patients of OCSCC enrolled in a randomized trial comparing three adjuvant strategies. In this trial, till 2010, a prophylactic feeding approach was followed for all patients. Since January 2011, a reactive feeding approach was followed.
Results: Two hundred and sixty-eight in each cohort (total n = 526) were eligible for analysis after propensity score matching. At 6 weeks post-RT completion, the median weight loss in the prophylactic versus reactive cohort was 5 versus 3 kg, p = 0.002. At all other time points until 1 year, the median weight loss was lesser in reactive than in the prophylactic cohort.
Conclusions: A reactive feeding tube approach should be preferred for OCSCC receiving adjuvant RT.
Keywords: nasogastric tube; oral cancers; percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; prophylactic feeding tube; reactive feeding.
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