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Published in: European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology 11/2023

07-08-2023 | Oral Cancer | Head and Neck

Long-term swallow outcomes and factors affecting swallowing dysfunction and quality of life among oral cancer patients: a prospective observational study

Authors: Abhinav Thaduri, Sravani Reddy Kappari, Kinjal Shankar Majumdar, Achyuth Panuganti, Shahab Ali Usmani, Vikramjit Singh, Areej Moideen, Manu Malhotra, Pankaj Kumar Garg

Published in: European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology | Issue 11/2023

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Abstract

Background

Oral cancer is one of the most common cancers among the Indian population. India bears the most burden of oral cancer globally. Impairment of swallowing function is often seen after treatment for oral cancer. The oral phase of swallowing is disrupted in patients undergoing resection for oral cancer. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term swallowing outcomes of oral cancer patients using a patient-reported outcome questionnaire.

Methodology

All consecutive oral cancer patients in the cT2–T4 category undergoing curative-intent surgery and reconstruction at our institute from March 2020 to March 2022 were included in the study. The Sydney Swallow questionnaire (SSQ) and functional oral intake scale (FOIS) assessed swallowing outcomes six months after definitive treatment. WHO BREF quality-of-life questionnaire was used to assess health-related quality of life.

Results

A total of seventy patients with oral cancer were included. The median age was 49 years. The majority of them were males (90%). Tumors with cT4 constituted 62%; the rest, 48%, were cT2 and cT3 categories. The bulk of them were buccoalveolar tumors (64.3%. Almost two-thirds of the patients received multimodal treatment. Trismus and xerostomia were at 46% and 88%, respectively. The mean SSQ score was 257.4 ± 99.1. Swallowing outcomes are affected by T stage (p = 0.01), extent of resection (p = 0.01), multimodality treatment (p < 0.01), trismus (p = 0.05), and xerostomia (p = 0.01). Almost 69% of them required special food preparation for swallowing (FOIS 4&5). Patients with buccoalveolar disease (p = 0.05) had significantly poor quality of life.

Conclusion

An advanced stage with extensive resection and receiving multimodal treatment has adverse swallowing outcomes. Post-treatment trismus and xerostomia also significantly affected swallowing results.
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Metadata
Title
Long-term swallow outcomes and factors affecting swallowing dysfunction and quality of life among oral cancer patients: a prospective observational study
Authors
Abhinav Thaduri
Sravani Reddy Kappari
Kinjal Shankar Majumdar
Achyuth Panuganti
Shahab Ali Usmani
Vikramjit Singh
Areej Moideen
Manu Malhotra
Pankaj Kumar Garg
Publication date
07-08-2023
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology / Issue 11/2023
Print ISSN: 0937-4477
Electronic ISSN: 1434-4726
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-08155-x

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