Summary
Objectives
This prospective randomized study aimed to investigate whether patients with dysphagia
after treatment for head and neck cancer improve their vocal function from doing head
lift exercises (Shaker's exercise).
Methods
Patients were randomized into an intervention group (n = 24) or a control group (n = 26).
Patients in the intervention group performed the head lift exercise three times a
day for 8 weeks. At baseline and at follow-up after 8 weeks, participants’ voices
were evaluated perceptually with the Grade-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain (GRBAS)
scale. Vocal fry (VF) was also perceptually evaluated and patients filled in the Voice
Handicap Index (VHI).
Results
Patients in the intervention group were perceptually evaluated as having less roughness
and vocal fry in their voices at follow-up compared to the control group. There were
no statistically significant changes between baseline and follow-up neither in the
intervention nor the control group regarding GRBAS, VF, or VHI. Neither were there
any statistically significant differences within the groups when results on the perceptual
evaluations at baseline and follow-up were compared.
Conclusions
The voices of the participants in the intervention group were slightly better than
the voices of the participants in the control group with less roughness and VF at
follow-up. However, no improvement in the VHI or the remaining GRBAS variables was
found. Therefore, this study can only give cautious support to the head lift exercise
as a method for improving the voice of patients with dysphagia after treatment for
head and neck cancer.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 13, 2021
Accepted:
December 3,
2020
Footnotes
Declaration of interests: None to declare.
Funding: This study was funded by The Healthcare Board, Region Västra Götaland, Swedish Cancer Society, the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and by grants from the Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF-agreement. The funding sources had no involvement in study design, in the collection, analysis or interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
