How do you balance aspiration risks with encouraging PO intake for HN cancer patients during and after chemoradiation?
Encouraging aggressive PO intake in patients with swallowing dysfunction may place them at risk for aspiration pneumonia, especially risky if undergoing concurrent chemotherapy (i.e. patient's may be leukopenic).
1 Answer
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Radiation Oncology · University of Michigan
Answered on
The main challenge is to identify the patients who are most prone to aspirate during and after Tx. Chemo-RT-related aspiration is frequently “silent”: the patient does not recognize he/she aspirates, and neither does the observer. The risk of aspiration is assessed by modified barium swallow perform...
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