Nutritional Screening after ENT Surgery for Non-cancer Diseases

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the survey was to assess changes in eating in non-cancer patients, after ENT surgery, which normally requires short-term hospitalization. Published studies focus especially on patients with head and neck cancer. Therefore, this survey focuses on nutritional screening in patients with a non-oncological diagnosis, where postoperative pain and swallowing disorders are a risk factor for malnutrition. Methods: The evaluation of nutritional screening was performed with the Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire, supplemented by selected questions from the full version of the Mini Nutritional Assessment. The participants were 50 patients. Thyroidectomy (32 %) and tonsillectomy (24 %) were the most frequent surgeries in the research sample. Results: Preoperatively, on admission to the ward, mild malnutrition was detected (reached of 2 points in the Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire test) in 6 % of respondents, postoperatively in 10 %. Severe malnutrition, reached 3 points, was not found in any of the participants on admission, nor postoperatively. The testing did not confirm a statistically significant difference in the weight values ​​in patients preoperatively and in the postoperative period. Subjectively, 60 % of patients considerd their eating in the postoperative period of hospitalization to be completely comfortable. Swallowing pain after surgery confirmed statistically significant difference on the average size of the eating of serving of foods. A total of 20 % of patients experienced decreasing of eating for pain. Conclusion: The most frequent changes in nutrition in the postoperative period were detected in patients after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and tonsillectomy. In the postoperative period, these participants experienced pain, which limited their food intake. The changes of weight are not a suitable method for assessing nutritional status in early postoperative care.