title: Functional outcomes related to the prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia: oral pilocarpine versus submandibular salivary gland transfer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Xerostomia has a devastating impact on oral function and quality of life in patients who receive radiation treatment for head and neck cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine functional outcomes related to 2 saliva-sparing treatments: (1) oral pilocarpine during radiotherapy; or (2) the submandibular salivary gland transfer (SGT) before radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-nine patients were recruited (SGT = 36; pilocarpine = 33). Speech intelligibility, swallowing outcomes, and quality of life were assessed at 4 points in time (pretreatment, and 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months after the pretreatment assessment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between groups in speech outcomes; however, significant between-group differences existed in swallowing and quality of life outcomes. In all cases, patients who received the SGT procedure had better swallowing outcomes and quality of life scores than the patients who received oral pilocarpine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SGT should be the treatment of choice between the 2 treatments offered to prevent xerostomia in the present study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. jana.rieger@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Jana M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.forename: Naresh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jha
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lam Tang
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seikaly
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018721:Muscarinic Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010862:Pilocarpine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000528:radiation effects; D013363:Submandibular Gland / Q000637:transplantation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D018721:Muscarinic Agonists; D010862:Pilocarpine