Pharyngeal Exercises to Treat Cancer

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Recent studies show patients who develop pharyngeal (lung) cancer may have a greater chance of getting better by performing swallowing exercises.
Along with treatment such as chemoradiotherapy (CRT) or radiotherapy (RT), patients who eat and swallow more showed a faster rate in recovery. With pharyngeal cancer on the rise, the U.S. is expecting about 14,000 people to acquire lung cancer this year. Katherine A. Hutcheson, Ph.D., of The University of Texas Cancer Center, and a team of researchers conducted a study of 497 patients who were treated for pharyngeal cancer from 2002 to 2008. More than half of those patients who practiced swallowing exercises were able to continue to eat and swallow after their treatment ended.
“Long-term swallowing outcomes were best in patients who both maintained full PO [oral intake] throughout RT or CRT and reported adherence to swallowing exercises and uniformly worst in those who were NPO [not eating] status at the end of treatment and non-adherent to the exercise regimen,” Dr. Hutcheson was quoted saying.
For more information, go to: http://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/eating-swallowing-exercises-help-patients-pharyngeal-cancers-fare-better/
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2013