LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13 : 1 January 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Speech Intelligibility in Patients with T1 and T2 Cancers of the Oral Tongue Treated by Wide Excision and Primary Closure

Dr. Swapna Sebastian, Anto Suresh B., and Dr. Achamma Ballraj

Abstract

Aim: Glossectomy can affect tongue mobility and impairment of speech. Aim of the study was to measure speech intelligibility preoperatively and post operatively in patients with T1 and T2 cancers of oral tongue who have undergone wide excision and primary closure.


Twelve patients with T1 and T2 cancers of the oral tongue treated by wide excision and primary closure between the ages of 50 to 70 years were taken up for the study. Two of the patients were females and 10 of them were males. All of them had Malayalam as their mother tongue. Speech samples were recorded preoperatively (2-3 days before surgery) and four weeks post operatively.

Results: The results revealed that though there was a difference between preoperative and post-operative perceptual analysis of both vowels, consonants, words and passage, the differences were significant only for the passage.

Conclusion: Patients with T1 and T2 cancers of oral tongue who have undergone wide excision and primary closure showed better intelligibility scores at phoneme level and word level even after surgery and the intelligibility deteriorated at sentence level. This could be due to the failure to meet the demand on the articulators to move faster for the continuous flow of speech at sentence level.

Key words: Speech intelligibility, Glossectomy, Wide excision and primary closure

Oral Cancer

Oral cancer comprises about 2.5% of total cancer (Parkin , Bray, Ferlay & Pisani 2005). Oral cancer which involves lips, salivary glands, tongue, oral cavity and pharynx are treated mainly by surgery and /or radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Chemotherapy (CT) alone is not curative (Mendenhall , Riggs & Cassisi 2005). The staging system for cancer classification (TNM) (Sobin & Wittekind 2002) is used for selecting the treatment modality.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Swapna Sebastian, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of ENT
Christian Medical College
Vellore 632004
Tamilnadu
India
swapna_santhosh@yahoo.co.in

Anto Suresh B
Quality Controller
Nadlab
Statue
Trivandrum 695001
Kerala
India
ben_suresh@yahoo.co.in

Dr. Achamma Ballraj, M S., DLO
Professor & Head of the Department
Department of ENT
Christian Medical College
Vellore 632004
Tamilnadu
India
abalraj@cmcvellore.ac.in
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