Research reports from Yokohama City University provide new insights into speech
2009 JUN 15 - (NewsRx.com) -- "This study analyzed the results of speech intelligibility tests in patients with tongue cancer who had undergone resection with the aim of making Surgical recommendations for flap design and inset, to improve speech function. A total of 126 patients, enrolled from 13 Japanese institutions, were classified into 3 groups according to the resected site: lateral, anterior, and combined," scientists in Yokohama, Japan report. "The lateral group was further divided into 3 Subgroups and the anterior group into 2 Subgroups according to the size of resection. The speech intelligibility score was analyzed based oil articulatory site and mode: 5 articulatory sites (linguodentoalveolar, linguopalatal, linguovelar, and their intermediates); and 7 articulatory modes (plosives, fricatives, affricatives, grids, nasals, vowels and semivowels). Low speech intelligibility scores were recorded at sites where flaps contribute directly to the pronunciation ill the lateral and combined groups and at the anterior part of the reconstructed tongue in the anterior group. Plosives and glides displayed low values in general. A radial forearm flap had higher function in the lateral group than other flaps. The type of flap had no effect ill the anterior and combined groups," wrote Y. Matsui and colleagues, Yokohama City University. The researchers concluded: "Surgical techniques and flap selection to improve functional status in each type of resection are discussed." Matsui and colleagues published their study in International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (Analyses of speech intelligibility in patients after glossectomy and reconstruction with fasciocutaneous/myocutaneous flaps. International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2009;38(4):339-345). For more information, contact Y. Matsui, Yokohama City University, Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Graduate School Medical, Kanazawa Ku, 3-9 Fukuura, Yokohama, Kanagawa 2360004, Japan. Publisher contact information for the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is: Churchill Livingstone, Journal Production Dept., Robert Stevenson House, 1-3 Baxters Place, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH1 3AF, Midlothian, Scotland. Keywords: Japan, Yokohama, Glossectomy, Maxillofacial Surgery, Oncology, Speech, Surgery, Tongue Cancer, Tongue Carcinoma, Yokohama City University. This article was prepared by Clinical Oncology Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Clinical Oncology Week via NewsRx.com.
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