Pretreatment Dysphagia Inventory and videofluorographic swallowing study as prognostic indicators of early survival outcomes in head and neck cancer

<jats:sec><jats:title>BACKGROUND</jats:title><jats:p>The prognostic role of swallowing‐related, pretreatment subjective and objective findings has not been investigated in detail. The authors evaluated the association between pretreatment MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) or videofluorographic swallowing study (VFSS) results and standard outcomes, including early recurrence and survival, in patients with treatment‐naïve head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>METHODS</jats:title><jats:p>Patients with HNSCC (n = 191) who received treatment at the authors' institution and were examined by self‐administered MDADI questionnaires and VFSS were prospectively enrolled. MDADI and VFSS findings were analyzed in correlation with clinicopathologic variables, and factors that predicted 2‐year disease‐free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were identified using a Cox proportional‐hazards regression model.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title><jats:p>The 2‐year OS and DFS rates were 80.1% and 77.5%, respectively. Clinical tumor (T) and lymph node (N) classifications, overall TNM stage, sex, tumor site, and educational level were significantly associated with specific MDADI subdomains, whereas Karnofsky performance score was significantly associated with all MDADI subdomains. After controlling for clinical factors, total scores, global assessment scores, and emotional and physical MDADI subscores were significantly predictive of 2‐year OS and DFS (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> < .05 for each). VFSS findings were not significantly associated with survival (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> > .05).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>CONCLUSIONS</jats:title><jats:p>The current results provide evidence of the prognostic role of the MDADI in predicting early survival outcomes in patients with HNSCC. The MDADI may be a practical and noninvasive method for the identification of patients at risk who would benefit from close follow‐up. <jats:bold><jats:italic>Cancer</jats:italic> 2015;121:1588–1598</jats:bold>. © <jats:italic>2015 American Cancer Society</jats:italic>.</jats:p></jats:sec>