Background: Treatment for oral or oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (O&OSCC) often leads to problems with speech articulation. Articulatory-kinematic data may be especially informative in designing new therapeutic approaches for individuals treated for these tumours. Aims: To provide a systematic review of the literature assessing the…

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is amongst the 10 most common cancers worldwide and has a major effect on patients' quality of life. Given the complexity of this unique group of patients, a multidisciplinary team approach is preferable. Amongst the debilitating sequels of HNC and/or its treatment, swallowing, speech and voice impairments…

Background: Perceptual measures such as speech intelligibility are known to be biased, variant and subjective, to which an automatic approach has been seen as a more reliable alternative. On the other hand, automatic approaches tend to lack explainability, an aspect that can prevent the widespread usage of these technologies clinically. Aims: In…

Background: In head and neck cancer, many tools exist to measure speech impairment, but few evaluate the impact on communication abilities. Some self-administered questionnaires are available to assess general activity limitations including communication. Others are not validated in oncology. These different tools result in scores that does not…

Background: After total laryngectomy, surgical voice restoration is used to establish communication via tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis. Once voice is established, there is a paucity of information on what speech and language therapists (SLTs) should do to improve tracheoesophageal voice quality to ensure functional communication. No existing…

Background: Over 200,000 patients are referred onto the suspected head and neck cancer (HNC) pathway annually in the UK, with around 3% receiving a cancer diagnosis. With new HNC advancements in identifying patients at low risk of a cancer diagnosis, one proposal is a speech and language therapy (SLT)-led first point of contact clinic for low-risk…

Background: Late side effects of head and neck cancer treatment commonly affect swallowing function. Late radiation-associated dysphagia (late-RAD) often presents years post-treatment when patients have been discharged from their multidisciplinary team. Timely symptom management may provide important physical and emotional support, potentially…

Background: Acute and late toxicities in patients treated with (chemo)radiotherapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) is common and can negatively impact quality of life and performance. Performance status instruments measure the functional ability to perform daily life activities and are important tools in the oncologic population. Aims: Since Dutch…

Background: The MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) is a widely used patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) which assesses dysphagia-related quality of life (QoL) in head and neck cancer (HNC). Despite its common use in HNC research and clinical practice, few of its psychometric properties have been reappraised since its inception. The aim of…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in rapid changes to head and neck cancer (HNC) services. Multidisciplinary team (MDT) face-to-face appointments were converted to telehealth appointments (telephone and video-call) to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The literature exploring HNC patient experience of these appointment types is…

Background: The free water protocol (FWP) is an alternate management strategy for patients with dysphagia, who would otherwise be nil by mouth or prescribed thickened fluids, allowing them to drink and potentially aspirate water under strict guidelines to minimize the risk of adverse consequences. The FWP is not widely implemented in acute…

Background: Low-grade glioma (LGG) is a type of brain tumour often situated in or near areas involved in language, sensory or motor functions. Depending on localization and tumour characteristics, language or cognitive impairments due to tumour growth and/or surgical resection are obvious risks. One task that may be at risk is writing, both…

Background: Awake craniotomy with electrical stimulation has become the gold standard for tumour resection in eloquent areas of the brain. Patients' speech during the procedure can inform the intervention and evidence for language experts to support the procedure is building. Within the UK a burgeoning speech and language therapist awake…

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is an important construct when assessing treatment outcomes. Aims: To examine the relative contributions of functioning, psychological well-being and self-efficacy on self-perceived QoL with a sample of total laryngectomy patients in Australia who had surgery for advanced laryngeal cancer. Methods &…

Background: It is known that people with dysphagia experience a number of negative consequences as a result of their swallowing difficulties following head and neck cancer management (HNC). However their perceptions and experiences of adjusting to dysphagia in the post-treatment phase, and the services received to assist this process, has not been…