The dietitian at the UPMC Survivorship Clinic is dedicated to help you meet your nutrition needs throughout your cancer journey. Our role with head and neck cancer patients is very crucial to help keep you feeling strong throughout treatment and beyond. We help you learn how to optimize your nutrition intake and maintain your weight in addition to managing side effects. Common nutrition related side effects: nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, chewing/swallowing difficulty, and taste changes.
By providing educational resources individualized to your needs, we help you optimize your nutrition intake and achieve better outcomes. We work closely with our swallowing therapists to educate you on foods you should be eating/avoiding if you are having any difficulty. If you are getting ready to start treatment, you will be encouraged to focus on keeping your calorie intake up to maintain your weight. Dietitians can also help you meet nutrition needs through a feeding tube.
UPMC has a variety of dietitians available to meet the needs of patients. We are located in many of the cancer centers, the Head and Neck Survivorship clinic, and associated in an outpatient setting with many of the individual hospitals. If you are interested in meeting with a dietitian to help with your individual nutrition needs, ask your medical oncologist, ENT surgeon, or the Head and Neck Survivorship clinic to send a referral for medical nutrition therapy or nutrition consultation.