Factors associated with prophylactic placement of feeding tubes in head and neck cancer patients receiving radiation were examined by Dr. Julie Locher, associate professor in the departments of medicine and health care organization and policy, and colleagues Dr. James A. Bonner, professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology; Dr. William R. Carroll, professor in the department of surgery-otolaryngology; and Dr. Meredith L. Kilgore, professor and chair of the department of health care organization and policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.