EAT‐10 Scores and Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between patient‐reported symptoms of oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) using the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT)‐10 and the swallowing function using a standardized fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) protocol in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients with confirmed OD. Methods Fifty‐seven dysphagic HNC patients completed the EAT‐10 and a FEES. Two blinded clinicians scored the randomized FEES examinations. Exclusion criteria consisted of presenting with a concurrent neurological disease, scoring below 23 on a Mini‐Mental State Examination, being older than 85 years, having undergone a total laryngectomy, and being illiterate or blind. Descriptive statistics, linear regression, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated. Results The majority of the dysphagic patients (N = 38; 66.7%) aspirated after swallowing thin liquid consistency. A large number of patients showed postswallow pharyngeal residue while swallowing thick liquid consistency. More specifically, 42 (73.0%) patients presented postswallow vallecular residue, and 39 (67.9%) patients presented postswallow pyriform sinus residue. All dysphagic patients had an EAT‐10 score ≥ 3. Linear regression analyses showed significant differences in mean EAT‐10 scores between the dichotomized categories (abnormal vs. normal) of postswallow vallecular (P = .037) and pyriform sinus residue (P = .013). No statistically significant difference in mean EAT‐10 scores between the dichotomized categories of penetration or aspiration was found (P = .966). Conclusion The EAT‐10 questionnaire seems to have an indicative value for the presence of postswallow pharyngeal residue in dysphagic HNC patients, and a value of 19 points turned out to be useful as a cutoff point for the presence of pharyngeal residue in this study population. Level of Evidence: 2b

Validation and Cultural Adaptation of an Arabic Version of Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (Pedi-EAT-10Arabic)

“…A significant correlation was found in our study between residue score and Arabic Pedi-EAT 10 total score. These results were similar to those reported by residue assessment by FEES but in the adult form of the questionnaire EAT 10 [ 32 ].…”

Identification and management of late dysfunction in survivors of head and neck cancer: Implementation and outcomes of an interdisciplinary quality of life (IQOL) clinic

“…9,35 PROs are more sensitive and may be a better means of capturing a patient's perception of their function. [46][47][48][49] We utilized PROs only as a means to screen functions that did not undergo clinical assessment by a provider (i.e., pain, distress, fatigue, and hearing), in an effort to ensure all functions were screened while taking into consideration the time required to fill out multiple surveys. This resulted in no collection of patient-reported information on functions such as eating, taste, xerostomia, and communication.…”

Patient Reported Outcomes and Objective Swallowing Assessments in a Multidisciplinary Dysphagia Clinic

“…To date it is unknown if abnormalities during specific parts of the swallow study correlate with certain patient reported signs and symptoms of dysphagia. Specifically, in the head and neck cancer population the EAT‐10 questionnaire is found to have an indicative value for the presence of postswallow pharyngeal residue on FEES, 4 however, this relationship cannot be extrapolated to the general dysphagic patient. Previous studies have found a complementary relationship between quality of life survey results and videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) performance among patients with head and neck malignancies.…”