My father is suffering from advance tongue cancer. He is feeling problem in taking food nowadays he is unable to take juices what can we do .Doctor wrote a cough syrup but on increasing the cough we are taking a ayurvedic medicine which decreased the coughing problem. This time he is unable to walk. He always want to sleep.
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Excessive sleepiness is because of electrolyte imbalance due to inadequate intake of food. You can get a ryles tube inserted so that semi solids and liquids can be fed through the tube to the stomach. Get a surgical oncologist opinion for surgery if inoperable he needs chemotherapy as palliative intent.
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The prognosis of advanced tongue cancer is quite poor. If need be a nasogastric tube can be inserted through nose for feeding or a PEG tube which is Inserted into stomach endoscopically. His nutrition and energy should improve with the tube feeds. Do check his electrolytes (sodium and potassium) as they may be deranged due to decreased food intake. I hope that the tumor is inoperable or metastatic hence we are not offering curative resection which gives about 50% survival. Also the life may be prolonged in locally advanced cancers of tongue by using chemotherapy or chemoradiation. Also immunotherapy with nivolumab is an option for those who can afford it (2Lac / month) which has shown to have good responses. For those who cannot afford it, metronomic chemotherapy is a good option. I hope I was able to solve your queries. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss further or share the reports.
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