Abstract
There are a few reports of ultrasound examination of the effects of the palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP) for postoperative oral-phalyngeal cancer patients. The aim of this study was to clarify lingual movements during swallowing with ultrasonography and to evaluate the effect of wearing the PAP on the oral functions of oral cancer patients.
Subjects and Methods:
The subjects were two patients who had been treated at the Rehabilitation Clinic for Speech and Swallowing Disorders in The Nippon Dental University Hospital. Case one was a 47 year-old-man who had a defect due to an operation for mouth flour cancer. He had been wearing a PAP to compensate for the defect for 1 1/2 years. Case two was a 77 year-old-woman who had a defect due to an operation for gingival cancer in the right side of the mandible. She had been wearing a PAP to compensate for the defect for 2 1/2 years. Lingual surface movements were quantified by measuring the grooving on the coronal sections during swallowing by ultrasonography (Nemio 17, SSA-550A, Toshiba Medical Co., Tokyo Japan) with and without PAP. The assessment items were 1) the depth of central grooving of the lingual surface movement during swallowing, 2) the duration of central grooving of the lingual surface movement during swallowing, and 3) the total duration of the lingual surface movement from ingestion to swallowing. The assessment parameters of swallowing difficulty were a questionnaire and a syllable-identification test. The differences between the with and without PAP results were analyzed by the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results and discussion:
The results of the present study showed that the duration of central grooving of the lingual surface movement during swallowing showed increases in both patients by ultrasonography (p<0.05).
Moreover, we investigated feeling and speech intelligibility. The PAP improved these.
It was considered that as consequences of recovery of oral deficits shape due to an operation for oral cancer, the change of central grooving of the lingual surface movements during swallowing were influenced. In fact, wearing the PAP helped to redress lingual pressure by lingual movement.
This study showed that wearing the PAP was effective for support of lingual movement during swallowing. In addition, it seemed that we might apply ultrasonography as a PAP evaluation index.
