[Basic principles and concepts of enteral nutrition of ENT patients]

Patients suffering from head and neck cancer often show malnutrition even at the time of diagnosis. Therapeutic measures as surgery, radiation and antineoplastic chemotherapy additionally decrease the nutritional status. Therefore, an early supportive intervention is necessary in accordance to prognosis and quality of life. For many reasons, enteral nutrition has advantages to total parenteral nutrition. Percutaneous endoscopically guided gastrostomy (PEG) is the method of choice, for the application of enteral nutrition in most cases; special situations can be covered by using nasogastral feeding tubes, jejunostomy techniques, open surgical approach or radiologically guided gastrostomy. The industry provides a lot of different products suitable for nearly all patients. Furthermore, PEG facilitates the application of pharmacological agents, e.g. analgetics. However, the patient must be integrated in a network of professional care to ensure a safe nutrition therapy also in an outpatient setting.