Speech and swallowing function in head and neck cancer patients: What do we know?

In this paper, we report on common speech and swallowing dysfunction that occurs after surgery, radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (oral cavity, pharynx and larynx sites). We review speech therapy interventions and discuss available evidence for the use of these techniques. Methodological quality is low in the majority of published studies that describe rehabilitation after head and neck cancer treatments and speech disability has received very little attention. Although many researchers have investigated swallowing impairment, a wide variety of measurement tools have been employed, making results across studies difficult to compare. There is an absence of good data on swallowing and/or speech outcomes after surgery, radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. Further work is needed to first, undertake rigorous scientific studies of functional outcomes (speech, swallowing, activity and societal participation) with this under-researched population and, second, to scientifically examine the usefulness of available therapeutic techniques for improving treatment results.