Patient-Reported Dysphagia After Multimodal Therapy and Radial Forearm Free-Flap Reconstruction for OPSCC: Associations With FEES Findings, Psychological Distress, and Xerostomia

Objective

This study investigated whether fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES)-derived parameters reflect patient-reported dysphagia and swallowing-related quality of life in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) after surgery-based multimodal therapy with free-flap reconstruction. In addition, it assessed the roles of psychological distress and xerostomia in this context.