Objective To investigate the effects of an indwelling nasogastric tube on patients’ nutritional status and quality of life during concurrent chemoradiation for esophageal cancer. Methods Ninety-eight esophageal cancer patients admitted to a hospital in Henan Province from February 2019 to January 2020 were selected for the study and divided into a control group and a study group using a random number table

with 49 cases in each group.Patients in both groups were treated with concurrent chemoradiation

and patients in the control group were given parenteral nutrition intervention

while patients in the study group were given an indwelling nasogastric tube to implement enteral nutrition intervention. The nutritional status

quality of life and the occurrence of adverse effects were compared between the two groups before admission and after treatment. Results At the time of admission

there was no statistically significant difference in nutritional status between the two groups（P >0.05）;after chemoradiation

the body mass index

hemoglobin

white blood cell count

albumin and platelet levels of patients in both groups were lower than those at the time of admission

but they were higher in the study group than in the control group（P <0.05）. At the time of admission

there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the scores in the dimensions of physical

role

emotional

cognitive

and social functions of the EORTC QLQ-C30（P >0.05）; after chemoradiation

the scores in all these dimensions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in the control group were lower than those at the time of admission

and the differences were statistically significant（P <0.05）; after chemoradiation

the scores in these dimensions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 in the study group were higher than those in the control group

and the differences were statistically significant（P <0.05）. The incidence of acute radiation esophagitis was 24.48%（12/49） in the study group patients

which was lower than that of 57.15%（28/49） in the control group

and the difference was statistically significant（P <0.05）. Conclusion An indwelling nasogastric tube in concurrent chemoradiation for esophagealcancer patients can effectively improve the nutritional status of patients and improve their quality of life

reduce the adverse reactions after radiotherapy

and thus promote patients’ recovery.