Journal
HEAD AND NECK-JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES AND SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK
Volume 27, Issue 9, Pages 785-793Publisher
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC
DOI: 10.1002/hed.20236
Keywords
head and neck cancer; oral cavity; oropharynx; microvascular reconstruction; speech
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background. The aim of the study was to analyze speech outcome for patients with advanced oral/oropharyngeal cancer treated with reconstructive surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods. Speech tests (communicative suitability, intelligibility, articulation, nasality, and consonant errors) were performed in a control group and in patients before treatment (n = 76), and 6 months (n = 51) and 12 months (n = 42) after treatment. Results. Speech tests were significantly worse for patients before and after treatment compared with the controls. Speech did not improve between 6 and 12 months. After treatment, patients with T3-4 tumors showed a significantly worse score for communicative suitability, intelligibility, and articulation than patients with T2 tumors. No significant differences were found for subsites after treatment, although patients with mobile tongue tumors showed the best results. Conclusion. Speech difficulties are significant, and with the knowledge of this study better counseling and vigilance as to speech difficulties may be possible in patients undergoing treatment for oral/oropharyngeal cancer. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available