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Evaluation of Swallowing by Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ) in Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients Treated with Primary Surgery

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Abstract

This work aimed at evaluating patients’ swallowing functions by a newly validated swallow-specific questionnaire, the Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ), in a cohort of oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients. Mean/median SSQ scores were calculated and compared with study variables using the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test. The mean composite SSQ scores (SD) for the base of tongue, oral tongue, and tonsillar cancer patients were 663.8 (382.8), 456.2 (407.6), and 283.0 (243.1), respectively (p = 0.005); for advanced vs. early T stage disease they were 918.1 (319.5) vs. 344.8 (292.1) (p ≤ 0.001); for patients <60 years vs. ≥60 years they were 549.3 (415.1) vs. 314.0 (247.3) (p = 0.02); and for patients with reconstruction vs. without reconstruction they were 676.5 (410.5) vs. 331.9 (286.5) (p = 0.002). SSQ is a useful tool for evaluation of swallowing in head and neck cancer patients. Site of cancer, T stage, patient’s age, and reconstruction directly affect post-treatment swallow outcome.

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Acknowledgments

This work was undertaken in The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust which received a proportion of its funding from the NHS Executive. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the NHS Executive. This work was supported by the Institute of Cancer Research and the Cancer Research UK Section of Radiotherapy (CRUK) grant No. C46/A10588. We acknowledge NHS funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Dr. Raghav Dwivedi and Dr. Rehan Kazi are supported by research grants from the Head and Neck Cancer Research Trust/The Oracle Cancer Trust.

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None.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Royal Marsden Research Ethics Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Head and Neck Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JJ, UK

    Raghav C. Dwivedi, Edward J. Chisholm, Brian Bisase, Furrat Amen, Cyrus J. Kerawala, Peter M. Clarke, Christopher M. Nutting, Peter H. Rhys-Evans, Kevin J. Harrington & Rehan Kazi

  2. The Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, UK

    Raghav C. Dwivedi, Christopher M. Nutting, Peter H. Rhys-Evans, Kevin J. Harrington & Rehan Kazi

  3. Research, Data and Statistical Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JJ, UK

    Suzanne St.Rose

  4. Department of Otolaryngology, Academisch Medisch Centrum, Endoscopic Skull Base Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Christos Georgalas

Authors
  1. Raghav C. Dwivedi
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  2. Suzanne St.Rose
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  3. Edward J. Chisholm
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  4. Christos Georgalas
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  5. Brian Bisase
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  6. Furrat Amen
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  7. Cyrus J. Kerawala
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  8. Peter M. Clarke
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  9. Christopher M. Nutting
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  10. Peter H. Rhys-Evans
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  11. Kevin J. Harrington
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  12. Rehan Kazi
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Correspondence to Raghav C. Dwivedi.

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Dwivedi, R.C., St.Rose, S., Chisholm, E.J. et al. Evaluation of Swallowing by Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ) in Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients Treated with Primary Surgery. Dysphagia 27, 491–497 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-012-9395-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-012-9395-z

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