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Results confirm that patients with oropharyngeal SCC undergoing helical IMRT with chemotherapy continue to experience incidences of acute toxicities comparable with other conformal techniques, and need supportive cares.

Patients in these subgroups of HNC experienced minimal treatment-related toxicity during radiotherapy. As such, the need for supportive symptom management by SP is low. Models that involve interdisciplinary surveillance of symptoms with referral to SP only when required may be best suited for these individuals to ensure issues are identified whilst minimising patient burden created by unnecessary routine SP appointments.

Background Enteral nutrition (EN) is often required in patients with head and neck cancer (HNSCC); however, initiation criteria is limited or inconsistent. This study aimed to describe the relationship of treatment toxicities and requirement for EN and investigate toxicity and baseline characteristics association with EN duration. Methods Acute toxicities and baseline characteristics were collected from patients with HNSCC (n = 110) undergoing H‐IMRT. Percentage EN contributing to estimated requirements and EN duration were measured. Results The threshold for patients needing ≥50% of estimated requirements via EN increased from week 3 to 4 for grade ≥2 oral/pharyngeal mucositis, dysgeusia, thick saliva and nausea, and for grade 3 dysphagia. Patients with grade 2–3 dysphagia had a reduced risk of ceasing EN compared to those with grade 0–1 dysphagia. Conclusions Using acute toxicities in clinical practice may be a useful tool to inform prompt initiation of EN prior to decline in nutritional status and anticipate EN duration.

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