• Akihisa Tanaka, Hirokazu Uemura, Takahiro Kimura, Ari Nishimura, Kumiko Aoki, Shintaro Otsuka, Keita Ueda, and Tadashi Kitahara.
• Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Nara, Japan.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Jun 30; 102 (26): e33954e33954.

IntroductionDysphagia is often caused by radiotherapy (RT) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), and reduced tongue pressure (TP) is often associated with swallowing dysfunction in the oral stage. However, the evaluation of dysphagia by measuring TP has not yet been established in HNC patients. Herein, we conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the usefulness of TP measurement using a TP-measuring device as an objective indicator of dysphagia induced by RT in HNC patients.Methods And AnalysisThis ELEVATE trial is a prospective, single-center, single-arm, non-blind, non-randomized trial to evaluate the usefulness of a TP measurement device for dysphagia associated with the treatment of HNC. Eligible participants include patients with oropharyngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer (HPC) undergoing RT or chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The TP measurements are conducted before, during, and after RT. The primary endpoint is the change in the maximum TP values from before RT to 3 months after RT. Moreover, as secondary endpoints, the correlation between the maximum TP value and the findings of video-endoscopic and video-fluoroscopic examinations of swallowing will be analyzed at each evaluation point, as well as changes in the maximum TP value from before RT to during RT and at 0, 1, and 6 months after RT.DiscussionThis trial aimed to investigate the usefulness of evaluation by measuring TP for dysphagia associated with HNC treatment. We expect that an easier evaluation for dysphagia will improve rehabilitation programs for dysphagia. Overall, we expect this trial to contribute to the improvement of patients' quality of life (QOL).Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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