Chordoma after surgery

Chordoma is a disease that occurs during the fetal period. When the fetus grows to about 3 months, the notochord will gradually degenerate or even disappear, leaving only some of it in the intervertebral disc, which is the so-called nucleus pulposus. However, if the embryo of the notochord remains in the intervertebral disc and remains there until after birth, it may gradually develop into a tumor. This is called a chordoma. The cause of the disease only occurs in childhood, and chordoma usually occurs after growing up.

Chordoma is a benign tumor, but it has a tendency to grow into a malignant tumor, with extensive bone destruction and invasion of the skull base. After the discovery of chordoma, surgical resection is often advocated to prevent recurrence of chordoma. Chordomas are prone to recurrence, and some chordomas may metastasize to distant sites. For patients who undergo surgical resection of chordoma in the early stage, gamma knife, X-knife or even stereotactic radiotherapy should be used after surgery to prevent and delay the chance of recurrence and delay the course of recurrence. For the recurrence of chordoma, surgical resection is still advocated. The more thorough the surgical resection, the better and smaller the chance of postoperative recurrence will be, the more ideal the patient's prognosis will be, and the longer the patient's effective survival period will be. In the early years, the five-year effective survival rate of patients was only about 30%. However, with the continuous improvement and development of surgical technology and the level of neurosurgeons, the current five-year effective survival rate of chordoma surgery can reach about 60%-70%, which greatly increases the survival rate of chordoma patients and improves the prognosis of patients.

Patients need to supplement a lot of protein, calories and multiple vitamins after surgery , so what should chordoma patients eat after surgery? They should consume more foods rich in animal protein, such as beef, chicken, fish, egg white, milk, etc. You can also add 2-3 snacks between meals, such as cakes, biscuits, milk, soy milk, etc. You can eat any broken and cooked bread, biscuits, lotus root powder, sesame paste and other foods before going to bed. It is best for patients to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and they can eat some sweets as long as it does not affect their appetite.

Patients should also pay attention to choosing food according to the season : for example, in spring and summer when the yang energy rises, do not eat too much greasy food to avoid "suppressing the spleen", and also eat less raw and cold food. It is hot and humid in summer, so you can eat mung bean soup, lotus leaf porridge, etc. to relieve the heat. In autumn and winter, when the Yang energy is withdrawn, you need to eat warm and soft foods, and it is best to eat more warm and nourishing foods.

The most important thing to note is that you should not eat mixed vegetables or vegetables with high crude fiber content, such as celery, bean sprouts, leeks, and do not eat peppers, mustard and other seasonings. Fruits should be peeled, and bananas, oranges, apples, pears, etc. can be eaten. Patients must follow the dietary advice given by their doctors in their lives. Never eat whatever you want. You must control your mouth, otherwise the condition will worsen due to improper diet.