Nutritional status and skeletal muscle status in patients with head and neck cancer: Impact on outcomes.

Malnutrition was a more powerful prognostic indicator than CT-defined skeletal muscle depletion and was independently associated with reduced OS in patients undergoing RT or CRT of curative intent for HNC. CT-defined skeletal muscle depletion studies should recognize the multifaceted nature of human body composition and also measure nutritional status using validated methods in order to move towards developing a typology of high risk criteria for this complex patient group.