Dysphagia Advances in Head and Neck Cancer

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarises the current literature regarding head and neck cancer–associated dysphagia. Up-to-date evidence for dysphagia outcome measurement for this population is provided, in addition to recent innovations that aim to prevent, reduce or remediate the common and debilitating side effects of treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Both patient-reported outcomes and clinical measures are necessary to capture the multi-dimensional nature of swallowing. A minimally important difference in scores has been calculated for some of these measures, to aid interpretation and powering of clinical trials. The number of dysphagia-related trials has increased, predominantly investigating optimal treatment for oropharyngeal HPV-positive disease, and speech and language pathology interventions using an impairment-based approach. SUMMARY: Although substantial progress has been made, further work is necessary to establish a consensus over outcome measures. Modifying treatments may improve outcomes. Several trials are underway to establish the effectiveness of speech and language pathology dysphagia interventions.