[Nutrient Assessment and Perioperative Management in Esophageal Cancer Patients Undergoing Esophagectomy]

Esophagectomy is a most invasive operation, as compared with other operations of the gastrointestinal tract. Obstructions of the food passageway and the overgrowth of tissue postoperatively may lead to malnutrition. Therefore, significant assessment and management of nutrients is very important for esophageal cancer patients. The body mass index, albumin, the prognostic nutritional index, controlling nutritional status, and the Glasgow Prognostic Score are reported as useful assessment tools for esophageal cancer. The patient's general condition, including his or her nutritional status, influences the performance of esophagectomy. Therefore, improving the nutritional status enables an adaptation of therapy and leads to preventive benefits for decreasing postoperative complications. The previously cited nutritional tools are very useful indices because the measurement of each factor is convenient and fast. Also, early recovery from operative stress is the most important target of postoperative management after esophagectomy. Accurate and adequate perioperative management allows early recovery from operative stress in esophageal cancer patients. Preoperative steroid injection, oral care, respiratory training and rehabilitation, smoking cessation, and so on are very important for esophageal cancer patients. The efforts of a team that includes doctors, nurses, and healthcare providers are necessary for sufficient postoperative management after esophagectomy.