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- Title
Aspiration Rate following Nonsurgical Therapy for Laryngeal Cancer.
- Authors
Nam P. Nguyen; Candace C. Moltz; Cheryl Frank; Paul Vos; Carrie Millar; Herbert J. Smith; Howard Lee; Ulf Karlsson; Phuc D. Nguyen; Tomas Martinez; Ly M. Nguyen; Sabah Sallah
- Abstract
AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the aspiration rate following nonsurgical therapy, i.e. chemoradiation or radiation alone for laryngeal cancer. Modified barium swallow was performed in 43 patients who complained of dysphagia following chemoradiation (n = 22) or radiation alone (n = 21) for laryngeal cancer. Patients were selected if they were cancer free at the time of the swallowing study. Dysphagia severity was graded on a scale of 1–7. Patients were grouped according to the dysphagia severity: no aspiration (grade 1–4), and severe (grade 5–7). Mean and median dysphagia grades were 4.4/5 and 3.5/3 for chemoradiation and radiation, respectively. Aspiration occurred in 12 patients (54%) of the chemoradiation group and 7 (33%) of the radiation alone group (p = 0.13). There was a higher proportion of patients with large tumor (T3–T4) in the chemoradiation group (64%) compared to the radiation group (5%) (p = 0.0001). Aspiration is a significant source of morbidity in patients treated for laryngeal cancer with chemoradiation or radiation alone. Aspiration occurred in both groups. Although the observed difference in aspiration rates did not achieve statistical significance, the higher aspiration rate in the chemoradiation group may be due to a higher proportion of large tumors, to the additional toxic effect of chemotherapy, or to the small number of patients in both groups. Diagnostic studies such as modified barium swallow should be part of future laryngeal cancer prospective studies to assess the prevalence of aspiration as it may be silent.Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel
- Subjects
LARYNGEAL cancer; ASPIRATORS; RADIOTHERAPY; DRUG therapy; DEGLUTITION disorders
- Publication
ORL, 2007, Vol 69, Issue 2, p116
- ISSN
0301-1569
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1159/000097843