What should you pay attention to in your diet after esophageal cancer surgery?

For patients with esophageal cancer, it is very important to understand the dietary points after esophageal cancer surgery in order to achieve the ideal treatment effect. So what are the dietary precautions after esophageal cancer surgery ? Let's take a look at the experts' answers below.

The diet after esophageal cancer surgery mainly includes the following four stages:

1. Nasogastric feeding stage: 1 to 5 days after surgery, the patient is in the traumatic period of surgery, the anastomosis has not yet healed, the gastrointestinal function has not recovered well, and the digestive function is poor. During this period, only nasogastric feeding can be used. That is, a very thin and specially made nutrition tube is placed through the nose directly into the jejunum to deliver nutrition. During the nasogastric feeding stage, the patient can be fed with mixed milk, vegetable juice, fruit juice, rice soup, etc. The temperature when dripping should be close to body temperature. The nasogastric feeding nutrient solution is required to meet the requirements of appropriate proportions of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, salt and water as much as possible.

2. Liquid food stage: 5 to 10 days after surgery. During this period, the patient has basically passed the surgical trauma period, and gastrointestinal function begins to gradually recover, manifested by appetite and anal gas (commonly known as farting). You can first give a small amount of boiled water (3 to 5 tablespoons), and gradually increase to 30 to 50 ml. If there is no obvious discomfort, you can give rice soup, egg soup, fresh milk, fish soup and various poultry stews, 100 to 200 ml each time, 5 to 7 meals a day.

3. Semi-liquid diet stage: starts from the second week after surgery. During this period, the various drainage tubes left in the patient after surgery have been removed, and the intravenous infusion of fluids has gradually stopped. Except for a few elderly or very elderly patients who cannot get out of bed, most of them can walk and move around, and their appetite gradually increases. However, during this period, only small meals can be eaten frequently, with the main food being easily digestible and residue-free (such as porridge, noodles, egg soup, tofu, etc.). In particular, some patients with a large appetite before surgery should avoid eating a large amount of food to avoid digestive tract complications or anastomotic fistula.

4. Normal diet stage: This stage generally starts from the fourth week after surgery. During this period, most patients have been discharged from the hospital and are resting at home, cared for by their relatives. At this time, the diet range can be expanded as much as possible (except fried food and sweets), and all foods can be eaten except for those that the doctor specifically emphasized not to eat when the patient was discharged from the hospital. The patient can also be guided to do some appropriate physical activities to facilitate digestion and absorption.

The above are the main points of diet after esophageal cancer surgery. Through the introduction of experts, I believe you have a certain understanding of diet after esophageal cancer surgery. If you have any questions about diet after esophageal cancer surgery, please consult our online experts.

For more information, please visit the esophageal cancer disease special topic at http://www..com.cn/zhongliu/sda/ or consult an expert for free. The expert will then give a detailed answer based on the patient's specific situation.