Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of treatment parameters on speech function and tongue motility in patients who have undergone oral (mobile) tongue resection for tongue cancer.
Speech function was assessed by a 100 Japanese syllable speech intelligibility test and conversation intelligibility test. Tongue motility was evaluated by time measurement of tongue masticatory movement. Patients were divided into two groups by approach of tongue resection: an intra-oral approach group (n=64) and a pull-through approach group (n=45). Each group was further divided into subgroups by treatment parameters.
All patients with intra-oral partial glossectomy revealed excellent speech intelligibility ranging from 91.7% to 93.6%. On the other hand, tongue mobility in the skin graft group was significantly lower than in the primary closure and artificial dermis group. In the pull-through approach group, patients with partial or hemi-glossectomy had good speech intelligibility, with mean scores ranging from 81.5% to 89.2%. However, speech intelligibility scores in the subtotal and total-glossectomy group were significantly lower, 65.1% and 37.4%, respectively. Patients with subtotal or total-glossectomy of the oral tongue had poorer speech function and tongue mobility.
