How To Treat Esophageal Cancer

Feeding Tube For Nutrition

A feeding tube for nutrition may be required as part of the process to treat esophageal cancer. Often times, the surgical methods used to treat cancer of the esophagus can cause food consumption to be too much of a risk for a post-procedural infection. In addition, these types of surgeries can make it difficult or very painful for a patient to swallow food and fluids normally. A feeding tube is often temporarily embedded in a patient's small intestine to deliver nutrition to the body while they are healing. In other cases, the placement of a feeding tube for nutrition may be required for a more long-term duration. This nutrition support may be a nasogastric feeding tube or a feeding tube fed into the body through the nasal passageway, and then down into the stomach. Some patients are unable to tolerate this type of feeding tube, and the stomach may be inaccessible through the tumor affected esophagus. In such cases, a tube is embedded from the outside of the body through the abdomen, and it is inserted directly into the stomach. Most patients who undergo the recommended treatment for esophageal cancer are able to come off of the feeding tube eventually.

Uncover more ways to treat esophageal cancer now.