The impact of nutritional counseling on thyroid disorders in head and neck cancer patients after (chemo)radiotherapy: results from a prospective interventional trial.

Objective: To analyze the impact of nutritional counseling on the development of hypothyroidism after (chemo)radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients to propose a new normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) model.

Materials And Methods: At baseline, at the end of (chemo)radiotherapy, and during follow-up, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) with free thyroxin (fT3 and fT4), nutritional status, and nutrient intake were prospectively analyzed in 46 out of 220 screened patients. Patients received (chemo)radiotherapy within an intervention (individual nutritional counseling every 2 weeks during therapy) and a control group (no nutritional counseling).