Water swallow screening test for patients after surgery for head and neck cancer: Early identification of dysphagia, aspiration and limitations of oral intake

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the water swallow test [1] in postsurgical head and neck cancer patients to screen for the presence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in general that required instrumental testing, aspiration status, and limitations of oral intake. A total of 80 participants were administered the water swallow test using 2, 5, 10, and 20 ml of water; failure was defined as wet voice before testing, wet voice/voice change after swallowing, and cough/throat clear after swallowing. FEES was the standard for comparison and was performed within 1 h of the water swallow test using the same order of water volumes as well as puree and solid food consistencies.