Rehabilitation Nursing Intervention Can Improve Dysphagia and Quality of Life of Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy for Esophageal Cancer

OBJECTIVE: To seek the improvement of rehabilitation nursing intervention on dysphagia and quality of life of patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy. METHODS: A total of 109 patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy were selected as research objects. According to the random number table, they were separated into the control group (CG) and intervention group (IG), with 45 cases in CG and 64 cases in IG. In CG, patients were given routine nursing intervention, while those in IG were given rehabilitation nursing intervention. After intervention, the degree of acute radiation injury and the improvement of swallowing function were observed to compare the self-nursing ability, quality of life, and incidence of complications between the two groups. RESULTS: The degree of injury in CG was heavier than that in IG. The improvement of swallowing function in IG was better than that in CG. The scores of self-nursing ability and life quality in IG were higher than those in CG, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). The incidence of complications in IG was obviously lower than that in CG (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation nursing intervention can ameliorate dysphagia, improve the quality of life, and reduce the incidence of complications for patients with esophageal cancer undergoing radiotherapy. It is worthy of clinical application.