title: Radial forearm versus anterolateral thigh flap reconstruction after hemiglossectomy: functional assessment of swallowing and speech.
abstract: The authors retrospectively compared the results of postoperative speech and swallowing in patients who had undergone hemiglossectomy for carcinoma of the anterior tongue. Immediate reconstruction in 16 patients was with a free radial forearm flap and in another 16 with an anterolateral thigh flap. Clinical speech pathology evaluation included the Fletcher time-to-time maximum syllable repetition rate, multiple rhyme test, and overall quality and intelligibility of the patients' speech. Evaluation of swallowing included deglutition duration, bolus volume, and ingestion rate. The functional results with both flaps were adequate, and the two groups did not differ significantly between each other for either speech or swallowing.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Surgery Department, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Tao
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: Yi-Shing
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Leu
authors.forename: Chung-Ji
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kwang-Yi
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.forename: Chang-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D003679:Deglutition; D005927:Glossectomy; D006801:Humans; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013060:Speech; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*