Functional swallowing therapy after treatment for head and neck cancer can outcome be predicted?

Possible prognostic factors for swallowing after curative treatment of head and neck cancer were investigated by retrospectively analyzing the records of 82 consecutively treated patients. All of them had an exhaustive assessment of swallowing after the oncological treatment, and all had an adequate follow-up. In general, a major improvement in swallowing quality was obser-ved after rehabilitation, although some patients (9/82) still had major problems. Patients with transport problems have a significantly better prognosis than patients with aspiration. No single parameter was strongly correlated with the outcome of swallowing. A weighted score (presence/absence of pharyngeal reflexes combined with the quality of laryngeal sphincter function) was of satisfactory prognostic value for improvement in the quality of swallowing.