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. 1988 Mar;207(3):267–273. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198803000-00008

Effects of age and nutritional status on surgical outcomes in head and neck cancer.

B S Linn 1, D S Robinson 1, N G Klimas 1
PMCID: PMC1493398  PMID: 3125799

Abstract

Older and younger malnourished and well-nourished head and neck cancer patients scheduled for surgery were studied. More of the young (75%) compared with the old (58%) underwent curative surgery, and only the old with lower clinical states of cancer were selected. When data on those undergoing surgery were analyzed in regard to older and younger malnourished and well-nourished men, the malnourished old had the poorest surgical outcomes of any group, with significantly more complications and morbidity rates. The well-nourished old had outcomes that did not differ from younger patients. On further examination, 60% of the young malnourished and only 20% of the old malnourished received preoperative enteral or parenteral nutritional support. Findings suggest that more attention to the needs of the older malnourished patients could improve surgical outcomes.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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