Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate late disturbance of food ingestion and swallowing in patients with advanced head and neck carcinoma after concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Patients answered a questionnaire, the Quality of Life Radiation Therapy Instrument (QOL-RTI) for Japanese, and swallowing function was investigated by videoendoscopy (VE) more than 1 year after treatment. The results of patients after CCRT were compared with normal elderly serving as the control group. The total QOL score of the patient group was significantly lower than that of the control group. In terms of the results of the QOL questionnaires, the QOL scores for quantity of saliva, quality of saliva, taste and food swallowing were significantly lower in the patient group. Regarding the VE findings, the control group exhibited almost normal swallowing function, but pooling in the vallecura, laryngeal palsy and pooling in the hypopharynx were observed in the phase of not swallowing. Furthermore, dysfunction of swallowing using the colored water swallowing test was observed in about 40% of the patients. In addition, the factors associated with disturbance of QOL score and swallowing function were analyzed. All factors, i.e., age, T and N classification, stage, duration after treatment, acute toxicity of chemoradiotherapy and order of chemotherapy, had not influence on food ingestion or swallowing. Patients after CCRT might have potential dysfunction of swallowing. The colored water swallowing test is useful for diagnosis of swallowing dysfunction in head and neck cancer patients after CCRT.
