Swallowing beyond six years post (chemo)radiotherapy for head and neck cancer; a cohort study

Dysphagia is a common and serious side effect of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for head and neck cancer (HNC). A small number of longitudinal studies describe swallowing outcomes with follow up periods ranging from six to 24  months. These report on patients following Intensity Modulated CRT [1,2], or accelerated radiotherapy for pharyngeal cancer [3], or a combination of post-radiotherapy and post-CRT patients [4,5]. All identify a significant deterioration in swallowing from pre- to post-treatment. There is disagree ment about the subsequent trajectory, three reporting little recovery up to two years following treatment [1,3,4], whereas others [2,5] report some improvement, but without a return to pre-treatment status.
Source: Oral Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research