[Dysphagia] Mouth and throat cancer

[EDolinger at Christianacare.org (Dolinger, Eric)]

Absolutely.  The idea is to provide exercises (oral/base of
tongue/pharynx/hyolaryngeal elevation) to try to limit the amount of tissue
fibrosis which can occur over time and potentially wreak havoc on the
swallowing mechanism.  Also watch for diminishing jaw ROM (trismus.
Now is the time to start these....and the likelihood is low that there will
be any untoward effects (other than discomfort).
Also, would try to keep him swallowing as much as possible throughout the
process (even if its just water or ice chips)

eric

Eric Dolinger, MA CCC-SLP
Senior Speech Pathologist
Christiana Care Health System 
Phone 302-733-1015
Fax 302-733-1061
edolinger@christianacare.org


-----Original Message-----
From: dysphagia-bounces@b9.com [mailto:dysphagia-bounces@b9.com] On Behalf
Of Jaimie Savasta
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 10:24 PM
To: Dysphagia@b9.com
Subject: [Dysphagia] Mouth and throat cancer


I have a question regarding a recent patient I have on my caseload.  He has
tongue base cancer and also pharyngeal cancer.  He will be receiving
radiation starting this week, and my question is this:  Is it appropriate to
do oral motor and pharyngeal exercises with him as he has radiation?  Will
it be beneficial at all?  Are there any precautions with doing these
exercises in this special case?   Currently he is NPO and has some scar
tissue at the back of his throat from the biopsy.  I am a fairly new SLP,
and have no experience dealing with cancer of the mouth.  Any pointers would
be very helpful.  Currently I am planning to discuss his case with the ENT,
and I am planning on checking ASHA's guidelines in this area.  So any input
would be greatly appreciated. 
   
  Thank you.
   
  Jaimie Savasta, MS CCC/SLP

 		
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