Swallowing After Surgery

Functional recovery after surgery is a significant challenge for head and neck patients. Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), with or without aspiration, is common after surgery and/or radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Dramatic weight loss, bronchitis and pneumonia are significant complications of dysphagia. When it persists, dysphagia causes malnutrition, poor wound healing and usually results in feeding patients with a nasal or stomach tube.

The Calgary head and neck swallowing team uses fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) as the primary tool to evaluate swallowing after surgery. FEES is safe, simple, inexpensive and easier to schedule than other methods of evaluating swallowing.

Using the results of FEES our swallowing team offers patients practical advice on how to safely and effectively swallow as they recover. The team carefully follows our patients over time so that diet prescriptions can be adapted to changing patient needs.