Swallowing and speech of patients submitted to glossectomy due to tongue cancer: cases report

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to correlate the swallowing and speech impairment level of patients submitted to glossectomy due to tongue cancer. This is a cross-sectional observational case study carried out with seven patients, over 18 years of age, who underwent glossectomy as a treatment for tongue cancer. Patients who had neurological diseases or who had undergone other head and neck surgeries not related to tongue cancer were excluded from the study. Swallowing clinical evaluation was performed using the ASED (Avaliação de Segurança da Deglutição) protocol and classification of oral intake according to the FOIS scale. Speech assessment was performed using the MBGR (Marchesan, Berrentin-Felix, Genaro, Rehder) protocol. It was observed that the major changes in swallowing occurred in the oral phase of swallowing, requiring changes in feeding practices with an impact on the level of oral intake. The following speech changes were mostly found: distortion in lingual-alveolar phonemes /ɾ/ and /l/ and lingual-palatals /s/, /z/, / ʃ /, /ʒ / and articulatory inaccuracy. A correlation was found between swallowing changes and oral food intake level and speech changes, demonstrating that the greater the feeding changes, the greater the speech changes found in the individuals of the present investigation.

Keywords:
Speech therapy; Deglutition disorders; Mouth neoplasms; Glossectomy; Speech disorders