Table 1. Patient characteristics (N=55)
Characteristic
Age in years
Mean
Range
Finding
(%)
58
32-79
Sex
Male
Female
44
11
(80)
(20)
T category
T1
T2
T3
T4
8
15
21
11
(15)
(27)
(38)
(20)
N category
N0
N1
N2
N3
6
15
28
6
(11)
(27)
(51)
(11)
Stage
III
IV
17
38
(31)
(69)
Tumor sites
Oral cavity
Floor of mouth
Tongue
Oropharynx
Retromolar trigone
Base of tongue
Tonsil
Soft palate
Pharynx posterior wall
Valleculae
Laryngo/hypopharynx
Piriform sinus
Hypopharynx posterior wall
Supraglottic larynx
Nasopharynx
5
2
3
24
1
10
7
2
3
1
19
17
1
1
7
(9)
(4)
(5)
(44)
(2)
(18)
(13)
(4)
(5)
(2)
(35)
(31)
(2)
(2)
(13)
Table 2. Reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) of the Likert scales measuring several quality of life issues
(see Appendix A for the corresponding questions)
Functional
Psychosocial
No. of items
6
3
Swallowing
Social contacts
Corresponding questions
b. 8,9,10,11,12,13
c. 1,2,3
Alpha
0.763
0.636
Table 3. Rating of swallowing (dys)function, in terms of oral and pharyngeal transport, according to the study
specific questionnaire (Appendix A: question b8-b13)
N = 55
Not at all
A little
Quite a bit
Very much
Solid food
39
11
4
1
Soft (pureed) food
50
4
1
-
Liquids
53
2
-
-
Solid food
27
18
6
4
Soft (pureed) food
46
8
1
-
Liquids
48
6
1
-
Oral transport
Swallowing
Table 4. Overview of all multidimensional assessment categories per patient; a highlighted box indicates that an
abnormality or problem was perceived or measured in that specific category for that patient.
PATIENTS’ PERCIEVED MEASUREMENTS
Quality of life
Taste/smell
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
Swallowing
Trismus
Intake
Intake
FOIS
‘OBJECTIVE’ CLINICIAN MEASUREMENTS
Pain
Videofluoroscopy
PAS
Residue
Mouth opening
Trismus
Weight
Weight loss
BMI<25