Nutritional Management of Oncological Symptoms: A Comprehensive Review

Throughout their experience of illness and during the course of treatment, a substantial proportion of cancer patients are prone to develop nutritional and/or metabolic disturbances. Additionally, cancer patients often encounter long-term side effects from therapies, which may lead to impaired digestion, nutrient absorption or bowel motility. Therefore, the preservation and maintenance of an optimal and balanced nutritional status are pivotal to achieving a better prognosis, increasing the tolerance and adherence to cancer therapies and improving the overall quality of life. In this context, personalized nutritional programs are essential for addressing conditions predisposing to weight loss, feeding difficulties, digestion problems and intestinal irregularity, with the goal of promoting adequate nutrient absorption and minimizing the detrimental effects of treatment regimens. The focus of this research is to examine the most common clinical conditions and metabolic changes that cancer patients may experience, including stomatitis, xerostomia, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dysphagia, sub-occlusion, dysgeusia, dysosmia, anorexia, and cachexia. Furthermore, we present a pragmatic example of a multidisciplinary workflow that incorporates customized recipes tailored to individual clinical scenarios, all while maintaining the hedonic value of the meals

Endoscopic treatment with CO2 laser for hypopharyngeal granular cell tumour. A case report.

none4noneC. Casirati; PIAZZA, Cesare; NICOLAI, Piero; G. PerettiC., Casirati; Piazza, Cesare; Nicolai, Piero; G., Perett

Granular cell tumor of the hypopharynx treated by endoscopic CO(2) laser excision : report of two cases

BACKGROUND: Granular cell tumor (GCT), or Abrikossoff's tumor, is an unusual lesion probably arising from Schwann cells. It is frequently found in the head and neck region, where the tongue is the most commonly affected site. Involvement of the hypopharynx is exceedingly rare because, to the best of our knowledge, only four cases have been reported in the literature. METHODS: We describe hypopharyngeal GCT in two women aged 29 and 52 years, respectively. RESULTS: In the first patient, preoperative diagnostic examination, including endoscopy, CT, and MRI scan, was suggestive of a benign lesion arising from the posterior wall of the hypopharynx. In the second patient, a previous biopsy of the postcricoid area performed elsewhere suggested a diagnosis of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, and CT scan staged the lesion as T1 N0. In both cases, treatment included surgical excision under microlaryngoscopy with CO(2) laser. The histopathologic study of the specimens, supported by immunohistochemical techniques, determined the lesions to be a GCT. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patients were discharged 12 and 2 days after surgery, respectively. Both patients were asymptomatic without evidence of recurrence when last seen 2 years and 4 months after surgery, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: GCT should be included in the differential diagnosis of submucosal hypopharyngeal lesions. Endoscopy and radiologic imaging do not display any typical finding suggestive of the diagnosis, which can be based only on histologic findings. Resection of the tumor, when technically feasible, should be performed under microlaryngoscopy with the CO(2) laser, which makes it possible to work in a bloodless field with minimal thermal damage and reduction of scarring and postoperative edema