Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth most common cancer (Duvvuri & Myers, 2009) and the eighth most common cause of cancer death worldwide (Santarelli, Lo Russo, Bambini, Campisi, & Lo Muzio, 2009). The umbrella term HNC includes a heterogeneous group of lesions at several sites including the oral cavity, paranasal sinuses, nasal cavity, larynx, pharynx and salivary glands (World Health Organization, 2005). Surgery and radiotherapy (XRT) are the main treatment approaches for HNC, with good clinical outcomes expected depending on a range of patient factors, site/location of tumor, clinical stage and resectability of the tumor (Argiris, Karamouzis, & Raben, 2008; Platteaux, Dirix, Hermans, & Nuyts, 2010). However, despite improving survival
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Speech-language pathologists (SLP), as part of a multidisciplinary team, play an important role in managing dysphagia and swallowing related toxicities experienced by patients undergoing treatment for HNC (Pauloski, 2008). Guiding SLP intervention is a body of research which has documented the nature and severity of dysphagia and treatment-related toxicities experienced by patients undergoing HNC management. However, although a growing body of evidence is available to inform clinical management, the majority of studies to date have explored treatment-related toxicities and dysphagia in patient groups with tumors located in the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx and pharynx, or in large groups of patients with mixed tumor sites (Zackrisson, Mercke, Strander, Wennerberg, & Cavallin-Sthl, 2003). In contrast, there is a paucity of specific information reported on the prevalence, nature and severity of dysphagia and treatment-related toxicities in some of the less common forms of HNC, such as parotid gland cancer …show more content…
Saliva is important for speech, oral health, mastication, taste and swallowing of food (Ho, Lin, Ann, Chu, & Yen, 2011; Humphrey & Williamson, 2001). Tumors of the parotid gland are rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cancers (Al-Mamgani et al., 2012b; Chung et al., 2013 ) and 3% of HNC (Nutting et al., 2001; Papadogeorgakis, Goutzanis, Petsinis, & Alexandridis, 2012) and the majority (approximately 50-80%) of parotid gland tumors are benign (Garden et al., 1997; Patel et al., 2014). Patients with low-grade tumors are typically treated with surgery alone (parotidectomy and neck dissection) (Al-Mamgani et al., 2012a; Nutting et al., 2001; Sykes, Logue, Slevin, & Gupta, 1995), while patients with high-grade tumors and those with risk of recurrence and metastasis are treated with surgery followed by XRT (Chung et al., 2013; Mendenhall, Morris, Amdur, Werning, & Villaret, 2005; Spiro, Koss, Hajdu, & Strong,
Speech-language pathologists (SLP), as part of a multidisciplinary team, play an important role in managing dysphagia and swallowing related toxicities experienced by patients undergoing treatment for HNC (Pauloski, 2008). Guiding SLP intervention is a body of research which has documented the nature and severity of dysphagia and treatment-related toxicities experienced by patients undergoing HNC management. However, although a growing body of evidence is available to inform clinical management, the majority of studies to date have explored treatment-related toxicities and dysphagia in patient groups with tumors located in the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx and pharynx, or in large groups of patients with mixed tumor sites (Zackrisson, Mercke, Strander, Wennerberg, & Cavallin-Sthl, 2003). In contrast, there is a paucity of specific information reported on the prevalence, nature and severity of dysphagia and treatment-related toxicities in some of the less common forms of HNC, such as parotid gland cancer …show more content…
Saliva is important for speech, oral health, mastication, taste and swallowing of food (Ho, Lin, Ann, Chu, & Yen, 2011; Humphrey & Williamson, 2001). Tumors of the parotid gland are rare, accounting for less than 1% of all cancers (Al-Mamgani et al., 2012b; Chung et al., 2013 ) and 3% of HNC (Nutting et al., 2001; Papadogeorgakis, Goutzanis, Petsinis, & Alexandridis, 2012) and the majority (approximately 50-80%) of parotid gland tumors are benign (Garden et al., 1997; Patel et al., 2014). Patients with low-grade tumors are typically treated with surgery alone (parotidectomy and neck dissection) (Al-Mamgani et al., 2012a; Nutting et al., 2001; Sykes, Logue, Slevin, & Gupta, 1995), while patients with high-grade tumors and those with risk of recurrence and metastasis are treated with surgery followed by XRT (Chung et al., 2013; Mendenhall, Morris, Amdur, Werning, & Villaret, 2005; Spiro, Koss, Hajdu, & Strong,