Clinical trial · Interventional
Swallowing Exercises for Nasopharyngeal Cancer After Radiation Therapy
Swallowing Exercises for Patients With Nasopharyngeal Cancer After Radiation Therapy
NCT01937793CI-TRIAL-00014285completedN/AClinicalTrials.gov clinicaltrialsProvenance
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
This study is designed to investigate the treatment efficacy of 8 weeks swallowing exercise programs for patients with NPC after radiation therapy. This study also compares two different swallowing exercise: effortful swallow and Mendelsohn's maneuver, to see which one can bring more benefits to patients after a certain period of exercise training. Three assessment tools are selected to evaluate the study result: Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA), videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), and Chinese version Swallowing Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (CSWAL-QOL). The hypothesis of this study is that the effortful swallowing exercise would have better treatment efficacy.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dysphagia | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Nasopharyngeal Cancer | Malignant Nasopharyngeal Neoplasm | CURATED_EXACT | 0.92 |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| effortful swallowing exercise | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Mendelsohn swallowing exercise | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- effortful swallowing exercise
- description
- Subjects in the arm are asked to do the effortful swallowing exercise at home for 8 weeks. The training frequency is to exercise 3-4 days/week, 3 times/day, 10 repetitions per time. Besides the at home exercise, each subject is scheduled to meet the investigator at the hospital at weekly basis to discuss and review his/her exercise practice.
- interventionNames
- Other: effortful swallowing exercise
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Mendelsohn swallowing exercise
- description
- Subjects in the arm are asked to do the Mendelsohn swallowing exercise at home for 8 weeks. The training frequency is to exercise 3-4 days/week, 3 times/day, 10 repetitions per time. Besides the at home exercise, each subject is scheduled to meet the investigator at the hospital at weekly basis to discuss and review his/her exercise practice.
- interventionNames
- Other: Mendelsohn swallowing exercise
Primary outcomes (1)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 20 Years
- Maximum age
- 70 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * patients diagnosed with NPC * completed radiation therapy at least 1 year * mild to moderate swallowing disorder defined by videofluorography * able to comply with protocal mandate, willing to perform the exercise programs, and ability to attend the weekly sessions Exclusion Criteria: * feeding tube insitu * received pharyngeal surgery * tracheostomy tube insitu * patients who could not put effort to push posterior tongue base backward and who could not elevate their pharyngeal during swallowing * severe swallowing disorder or aspirate defined by videofluorography * other malignances, neurovascular disease, demyelinating disease * cancer relapse or metastases
References
Publications (14)
- BACKGROUNDHind JA, Nicosia MA, Roecker EB, Carnes ML, Robbins J. Comparison of effortful and noneffortful swallows in healthy middle-aged and older adults. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2001 Dec;82(12):1661-5. doi: 10.1053/apmr.2001.28006. PMID 11733879
- BACKGROUNDHuang HY, Wilkie DJ, Schubert MM, Ting LL. Symptom profile of nasopharyngeal cancer patients during radiation therapy. Cancer Pract. 2000 Nov-Dec;8(6):274-81. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-5394.2000.86007.x. PMID 11898144
- BACKGROUNDHughes PJ, Scott PM, Kew J, Cheung DM, Leung SF, Ahuja AT, van Hasselt CA. Dysphagia in treated nasopharyngeal cancer. Head Neck. 2000 Jul;22(4):393-7. doi: 10.1002/1097-0347(200007)22:43.0.co;2-2. PMID 10862024
- BACKGROUNDKotz T, Federman AD, Kao J, Milman L, Packer S, Lopez-Prieto C, Forsythe K, Genden EM. Prophylactic swallowing exercises in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing chemoradiation: a randomized trial. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2012 Apr;138(4):376-82. doi: 10.1001/archoto.2012.187. PMID 22508621
- BACKGROUNDKu PK, Yuen EH, Cheung DM, Chan BY, Ahuja A, Leung SF, Tong MC, van Hasselt A. Early swallowing problems in a cohort of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Symptomatology and videofluoroscopic findings. Laryngoscope. 2007 Jan;117(1):142-6. doi: 10.1097/01.mlg.0000248738.55387.44. PMID 17202944
- BACKGROUNDKulbersh BD, Rosenthal EL, McGrew BM, Duncan RD, McColloch NL, Carroll WR, Magnuson JS. Pretreatment, preoperative swallowing exercises may improve dysphagia quality of life. Laryngoscope. 2006 Jun;116(6):883-6. doi: 10.1097/01.mlg.0000217278.96901.fc. PMID 16735913
- BACKGROUNDLam PM, Lai CK. The validation of the Chinese version of the Swallow Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (SWAL-QOL) using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Dysphagia. 2011 Jun;26(2):117-24. doi: 10.1007/s00455-010-9272-6. Epub 2010 Mar 4.