Dynamics of Swallowing Tablets during the Recovery Period following Surgery for Tongue Cancer

Compared to foods, medicinal tablets are difficult to swallow: even 10-20% of healthy subjects have trouble swallowing tablets. Compared to healthy subjects, patients with dysphagia reportedly experience more difficulty swallowing tablets and require an increased volume of water for tablet ingestion, a longer ingestion time, and an increase in the number of swallowing attempts.

In order to improve compliance with taking medication, investigations into the dosage forms and physical properties of tablets that can be easy to ingest have been conducted in the past.

The larger the tablets, the harder they are to ingest; conversely, if they are too small, they can be difficult to handle. A tablet size of 7-8 mm in diameter is considered the easiest for Japanese people to swallow.

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Dynamics of Swallowing Tablets during the Recovery Period following Surgery for Tongue Cancer

Medicinal tablets are sometimes difficult to swallow, even for healthy individuals. Accordingly, it is likely more difficult for patients to swallow tablets after oral surgery for tongue tumors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the dynamics of swallowing tablets in the recovery period following surgery for tongue tumors.

Two experiments were conducted (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 20 tongue cancer patients swallowed simulated tablets and underwent videofluoroscopic (VF) examination of swallowing before and after surgery. The ability or inability to pass the tablet to the esophagus and the number of swallowing attempts required to ingest the tablet were evaluated. In Experiment 2, 48 similar subjects swallowed thickened barium and simulated tablets and underwent VF examination of swallowing after surgery.

The ability or inability to pass the tablet to the esophagus, the number of swallows required to ingest the tablet, the tablet position after the initial and the final swallowing reflexes, and the oral transit time and pharyngeal transit time for swallowing the thickened barium solution and simulated tablets were evaluated.

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