Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the movement of the reconstructed tongue and to analyze the relations between the movement of the neotongue and postoperative swallowing function in patients with total or subtotal glossectomy. A common concept of total tongue reconstruction is to reconstruct a tongue in the protuberant shape to prevent aspiration. However, occupation of the oropharynges by the reconstructed tongue disturbs the swallow function. Therefore, the movement as well as the shape is important for tongue reconstruction.
In this investigation, videofluorography was conducted on 14 patients. Range of movement of the reconstructed tongue was measured with video-analysis software (DIPP-Motion Pro 2D®). The relations between the movement of the reconstructed tongue and postoperative swallowing functions were analyzed statistically. The vertical movement distance of the reconstructed tongue had an influence on the swallowing function (P<0.05). In the patients with long-term follow-up, the tongue tended to move well. For the movement of the reconstructed tongue, the attachment of the flap to the palatoglossus muscle and the styloglossus muscle cut at the oropharynges was important. When these muscles were not preserved, fixation between the medial pterygoid muscle and the flap was effective.
