Assessment of Dysphagia for Head, Neck, and Oral Cancer (Rutherford - Live Interactive Webinar)

Course overview

Management of the Head, Neck, and Oral Cancer (HNOC) population can be daunting to even the seasoned clinicians. In the United States, about 3 percent of all cancers are HNOC, annually it affects approximately 63,000 Americans (Jemal, Siegel, Xu, and Ward, 2010; Siegel, Miller, and Jemal, 2017). A dramatic increase has been found within the younger male population due to the rise in Human Papilloma Virus. In a 2008 to 2012 US surveillance report (Viens et al 2016), yearly approximately 15,738 HPV positive HNOC were diagnosed, the median age of diagnosis was less than 60 years old and most predominantly males (Spence, 2016). Improvements in medical management of these cancers have resulted in better long term survival rates, however, the treatment modalities in and of themselves can often cause long term complications and ever changing swallowing function. (Lazarus et al., 2014). This course provides a better understanding of the impact of the cancer type, stage, location, and the medical managements impact on the swallowing mechanism. Participants will also learn the assessment tools that are available to assist in development of a plan of care and the informal measures that can aid development of a patient specificity. This workshop will improve confidence in assessing the dysphagia needs of the head, neck, and oral cancer population with evidence based practice, standardized assessment tools, and informal measures, which can positively impact clinical decision making in this highly diverse and challenging population.