[Perioperative Nutritional and Rehabilitation Therapy for Esophagectomy Cancer Patients]

The combination of nutritional therapy and rehabilitation in the perioperative period is expected to have synergistic effects on nutrition, muscle mass, inflammation, and other systemic conditions. It is important to form a perioperative team composed of members from other professions in order to implement a nutritional rehabilitation program efficiently and explain it in an easy-to-understand manner to patients. Nutritional guidance by a dietitian is provided from the preoperative outpatient visit, and a target daily nutritional intake is established. A feeding tube or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) may be considered for patients with inadequate oral intake. Products containing branched-chain amino acids should be administered after exercise. Preoperative upper and lower limb muscle strengthening training is provided by physical and occupational therapists, and postoperative coughing and standing exercises are performed at the same time to facilitate the introduction of postoperative training. Postoperative nutritional management is primarily enteral nutrition through a tube enterostomy tube. Oral intake is resumed after fluoroscopy on day 7. The patient will be trained in bed for joint mobility, sitting on the edge of the bed, and standing on day 1. Gait training is started on day 2. After the third day, gait training is performed in the ward, and stretching, strength training, bicycle ergometer, and other exercises are performed in the training room. It is important to provide seamless nutritional rehabilitation therapy from preoperative to postoperative outpatient.