Abstract
Dysphagia is a common challenge faced by patients with head and neck cancer. Management
of these patients is quite distinct from many other dysphagia etiologies due to the
nature of surgical removal of organs critical to swallowing, the ability to provide
preventative therapies, and the variable risk for complications related to dysphagia.
Thus, clinicians providing care to the head and neck cancer population need to understand
these differences when employing clinical decision making. In addition, changes in
the demographics of head and neck cancer, related predominantly to the epidemic of
oropharyngeal cancer associated with the human papillomavirus, have further transformed
both the types of patients and the types of treatments offered. These epidemiologic
factors further complicate the decision-making process for clinicians. This article
provides a framework for decision making in the surgical and nonsurgical patient with
head and neck cancer.
Keywords
dysphagia - head and neck cancer - radiation therapy - radiation-associated dysphagia
- rehabilitation - swallowing therapy
