Publications by authors named "Erin Gurd"

Background: Malnutrition is a common and distressing condition among pancreatic cancer patients. Fewer than a quarter of pancreatic cancer patients receive medical nutrition therapy (MNT), important for improving nutritional status, weight maintenance, quality of life and survival. System, provider, and patient level barriers limit access to MNT.

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As surgical and adjuvant therapies for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers improve in safety and efficacy, extended survival in these diseases is becoming commonplace. Surgically induced nutrition alterations are common side effects of treatment and often debilitating. This review is intended for multidisciplinary teams to better understand the postoperative anatomy, physiology, and nutrition morbidity of GI cancer operations.

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Background: Malnutrition is under-recognized in cancer patients and can lead to poor treatment outcomes. We aim to develop an outpatient-focused score based on the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) to help identify colorectal cancer (CRC) profiles at high risk for malnutrition.

Methods: 506 CRC patients during initial outpatient oncology consultation at our tertiary referral outpatient oncology clinic completed the MST.

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Background: Patients undergoing hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgery, such patients with pancreatic, periampullary, and liver cancer, are at high risk for malnutrition. Malnutrition increases surgical complications and reduces overall survival. Despite its severity, there are limited interventions addressing malnutrition after HPB surgery.

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Gastrostomy tubes (g-tubes) have been used with caution prior to esophageal resection due to the risks of inoculation metastasis and of injury to the gastric conduit used for reconstruction. In this study, we aim to evaluate the safety of preoperative g-tube placement by comparing outcomes in patients undergoing esophageal resection with and without prior g-tube use. We retrospectively reviewed our institution's database of 1113 esophagectomies performed between 1994 and 2018.

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