The purpose of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the clinical efficacy and problems of videofluoroscopic (VF) examination of swallowing in patients with surgical resection of oral cancer. VF examination was carried out 21 times in 17 patients with swallowing difficulties and suspicion of aspiration pneumonia. Abnormal findings in videofluoroscopy were observed in five patients. In three of these patients swallowing function was restored after rehabilitation according to the results of VF examination. On the other hand, three patients developed aspiration pneumonia after oral ingestion although abnormal findings were not obtained in the VF examination carried out in the early stage after surgery. No complication associated with VF examination was noted in any patients. The results of this retrospective study suggested that VF examination was safe and effective to evaluate swallowing function in patients with surgical resection of oral cancer (s), although the appropriate timing of the examination needs to be considered.
