Swallowing Exercises for Nasopharyngeal Cancer After Radiation Therapy

N/ACompletedNCT01937793

National Taiwan University Hospital16 enrolled

Overview

This study is designed to investigate the treatment efficacy of 8 weeks swallowing exercise programs for patients with NPC after radiation therapy. This study also compares two different swallowing exercise: effortful swallow and Mendelsohn's maneuver, to see which one can bring more benefits to patients after a certain period of exercise training. Three assessment tools are selected to evaluate the study result: Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA), videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), and Chinese version Swallowing Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (CSWAL-QOL). The hypothesis of this study is that the effortful swallowing exercise would have better treatment efficacy.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Nasopharyngeal Cancer Dysphagia

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 20 YearsMax age: 70 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * patients diagnosed with NPC * completed radiation therapy at least 1 year * mild to moderate swallowing disorder defined by videofluorography * able to comply with protocal mandate, willing to perform the exercise programs, and ability to attend the weekly sessions Exclusion Criteria: * feeding tube insitu * received pharyngeal surgery * tracheostomy tube insitu * patients who could not put effort to push posterior tongue base backward and who could not elevate their pharyngeal during swallowing * severe swallowing disorder or aspirate defined by videofluorography * other malignances, neurovascular disease, demyelinating disease * cancer relapse or metastases

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change from Baseline in videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS)

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) measures the bolus transit time including: 1.oral transit time; 2. pharyngeal transit time; and 3. pharyngeal delay time. It also reveals the occurrence of swallowing aspiration or not.

Time frame: Change from Baseline in VFSS at 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Change from Baseline in Chinese version of the Swallow Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (CSWAL-QOL)

The Chinese version of SWAL-QOL questionnaire (CSWAL-QOL) contains 10 scales related to swallowing and quality of life, including burden, eating desire, food duration, food selection, communication, fear, mental health, social functioning, sleep, and fatigue. All scales are linearly transformed into a 0-to-100 metric, with 0 indicating most dysfunction and 100 indicating no dysfunction.

Time frame: Change from Baseline in CSWAL-QOL at 8 weeks