ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Chirurgica 2020 December;75(6):430-5

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4733.20.08316-9

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Prevention of withdrawal symptoms in alcoholic patients with head and neck cancer

Melissa LAUS ¹ ✉, Marianna TRIGNANI ², Domenico CRESCENZI ¹, Marco RADICI ¹, Adelchi CROCE ³

¹ Unit of Otolaryngology, S. Giovanni Calibita - Fatebenefratelli General Hospital, Rome, Italy; ² Department of Radiation Oncology, SS. Annunziata Hospital, G. D’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy; ³ Department of Ear Nose and Throat, SS. Annunziata Hospital, G. D’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy

BACKGROUND: The role of alcohol abuse is common in the onset of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract, especially that affecting the tongue, floor of the mouth, palatine tonsil and piriform sinus. The consequences of the abuse of alcohol immediately after surgery in these patients are less known. But they are very important to achieve good final results.
METHODS: To try to understand the best treatment for withdrawal symptoms in a group of Italian patient with head and neck cancers, we administered a 10-item questionnaire. Subsequently, we decided to send the questionnaire to the main Italian centers of head and neck oncology using the platform of online surveys SurveyMonkey.
RESULTS: The results show clearly that it is not easy, within the Italian “latin” culture and lifestyle to correctly identify the alcoholic patient (patients in the last stage of the of the disease with a “behavioral dependency”) and that the centers which address these problems mostly use a drug treatment, employing in particular two classes of drugs, associated or not with thiamine, with a varying quantity of other vitamins.
CONCLUSIONS: It is important to know the early withdrawal syndrome to assess the ideal treatment. We propose a personal protocol to present this complication.

KEY WORDS: Alcoholism; Head and neck neoplasms; Surveys and questionnaires; Substance withdrawal syndrome; Operative surgical procedures