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Dysphagia severity and aspiration risk following oral cavity cancer surgery

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Abstract

Objectives

We assessed the severity of dysphagia before and after oral cavity cancer surgery.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed modified barium swallow (MBS) studies of 12 patients who underwent surgery for oral cavity cancer. A MBS was performed before and after treatment to assess the severity of dysphagia and aspiration risk. All patients were cancer-free at the time of the posttreatment MBS. Dysphagia severity was graded from 1 to 7 on a scale of increasing severity.

Results

Before surgery, seven cases were grade 1 and five were grade 2 dysphagia. At a median of 2 months (1–15 months) following surgery, grade 1–6 dysphagia was present in one, two, four, three, one, and one patient, respectively. In all, 17% (2/12) of the patients developed aspiration (grades 5–7). Seven patients (58%) experienced mild to moderate dysphagia. Only three patients (25%) had normal swallowing postoperatively. The two patients who developed aspiration had T3 tumors and underwent hemiglossectomies.

Conclusions

Dysphagia is common following surgery for oral cavity cancer. Diagnostic studies such as MBS should be included in future prospective oral cavity cancer studies to assess the dysphagia severity and for patient rehabilitation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Arizona, 1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85724-5081, USA

    Nam P. Nguyen

  2. Audiology and Speech Pathology, VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA

    Cheryl Frank, Candace C. Moltz & Carrie Millar

  3. Radiology, VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA

    Herbert J. Smith

  4. Radiation Oncology, VA North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA

    Howard Lee & Phuc D. Nguyen

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Suresh Dutta

  6. Department of Biostatistics, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Paul Vos

  7. Department of Radiation Oncology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Ulf Karlsson

  8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ly M. Nguyen

  9. Hematology Research Division, Novo Nordisk, Athens, Greece

    Sabah Sallah

Authors
  1. Nam P. Nguyen
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  2. Cheryl Frank
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  3. Candace C. Moltz
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  4. Carrie Millar
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  5. Herbert J. Smith
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  6. Suresh Dutta
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  7. Howard Lee
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  8. Paul Vos
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  9. Ulf Karlsson
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  10. Phuc D. Nguyen
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  11. Ly M. Nguyen
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  12. Sabah Sallah
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nam P. Nguyen.

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Nguyen, N.P., Frank, C., Moltz, C.C. et al. Dysphagia severity and aspiration risk following oral cavity cancer surgery. Oral Radiol 24, 76–79 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-008-0080-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-008-0080-8

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