Treatments for head and neck cancer can have many side effects that impact a person’s ability to eat and get good nutrition.  However, the cancer care team is there to help people cope with these types of treatment side effects. In this podcast, registered dietitians Annette Goldberg and Maureen Gardner discuss oral health, nutrition, and supportive care before, during, and after treatment.

• Overview of head and neck cancer treatments and the health care team [1:57].

• Nausea and vomiting [4:34].

• Difficulty chewing [5:42].

• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) [6:17].

• Painful swallowing (odynophagia) [6:48].

• Dry mouth (xerostomia) [7:14].

• Changes in taste (dysgeusia) [7:47].

• Mouth sores (mucositis) [9:22].

• Candidiasis [10:33].

• Thick saliva [11:25].

• Feeding tubes during treatment [12:31].

• Life after treatment [16:16].

Annette Goldberg, MS, MBA, RDN, LDN, is an outpatient oncology dietitian at the Boston Medical Center Cancer Care Center. Maureen Gardner, MA, RDN, CSO, is a Clinical Oncology Nutritionist at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute.

This is a prerecorded audio podcast. It can be listened to online or downloaded to your computer. A transcript of this podcast is also available. For more information, visit the Cancer.Net podcast page.