Baseline swallowing measures predict recovery at 6 weeks after transoral robotic surgery for head and neck cancer

Abstract

Objectives: To explore whether pre-treatment swallowing measures predict swallowing recovery at 6 weeks after transoral robotic surgery (TORS).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary care cancer centre in the United Kingdom.

Participants: Fifty-one consecutive patients undergoing TORS for head and neck cancer, between April 2013 and February 2015.

Main outcome measures: Swallowing function assessed by Performance Status Scale (PSS) Normalcy of Diet, timed water swallow test capacity scores (WST) and duration of tube feeding.

Results: The primary site distribution was as follows: 21 oropharynx, 8 larynx, 6 mucosectomy and 6 hypopharynx. T stages included 7 staged Tx, 21 T1-T2 tumours and 1 T3 tumour. Moderate-to-severe comorbidity was found in 45/51 patients. Mean PSS score was 83 (sd 27.54); mean WST score was 11.14 (sd 7.97). Most patients (73%) required tube feeding post-operatively, with mean tube feed duration of 18.08 days (sd 17.91); 76% resumed oral intake by 6 weeks. Pre-treatment swallow tests showed moderate negative correlation with tube feeding duration: PSS (rho 0-.430, P = .003); WST (rho 0-.503, P = 0.002).

Conclusions: The majority of TORS patients resume oral intake by 6 weeks. This study shows that impaired swallowing prior to surgery correlates with post-operative duration of tube feeding and strengthens the evidence for the utility of these measures in this clinical setting.