Head and neck cancer patients undergoing definitive radiotherapy
Enhancing patient compliance with radiotherapy schedules through integrated nutritional care, skin moisturizing, wound/ostomy stoma nurse intervention, shared decision-making (SDM), and weight self-monitoring.
Weight self-monitoring and real-time dedicated nutritional counseling
Developing an evidence-based skin moisturizing care model
Implementing RISRAS for radiation skin reaction assessment
Proactive referral to wound and ostomy (WOC) nurses for dermatitis care
Innovative Patient Decision Aids (PDAs) for feeding tube placement during radiotherapy (Shared Decision-Making)
Number of head and neck cancer patients receiving definitive radiotherapy (2019-2024): 160
Implementation rate of weight monitoring and nutritional counseling referral (2019-2024): 77.13%
Case enrollment for shared decision-making (SDM) on assistive feeding (2021-2024): 82 patients
WOC nurse referral rate for radiation dermatitis with moist desquamation (2021-2024): 97.67%
Adherence rate to definitive radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (2019-2024): 91.25%
Incidence of severe radiation dermatitis in head and neck cancer (2021-2024): 4.94%
Incidence of severe weight loss (>10% of pre-treatment weight) during head and neck cancer radiotherapy (2019-2024): 6.73%
Domestic head and neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy — Incidence of severe weight loss: 6.94% (2019-2022), which is below the benchmark of national medical centers.
Incidence of severe radiation dermatitis: 9.5% (2021-2023), maintaining a rate lower than that of national medical centers.
Patients shared that weekly skin hydration measurements, along with guidance on how to care for the treated area, helped their treatment go smoothly and significantly improved their quality of life after completing radiotherapy.
PEI-CHUAN TSAI, et al. Clinical Effect of Moisturized Skin Care on Radiation Dermatitis of Head and Neck Cancer. In Vivo. 2023 Nov-Dec; 37(6): 2776–2785.
LING-YU HUNG, et al. The Effect of Using Team Resource Management to Establish a Cancer Nutrition Care Model on Patients' Compliance with Radiotherapy. Poster presented at: ISQua's 41st International Conference; Oct 12-15, 2025; Sao Paulo, Brazil.
