Speech and swallowing function after reconstruction with a radial forearm free flap or a pectoralis major flap for tongue cancer.

Objective: The tongue plays a more significant role in English than in Mandarin, both in apical-palatal consonant production and tense-lax distinction. Theoretically, the same surgical intervention may produce a less significant impact on postoperative Mandarin production. The impact of tongue reconstruction on Mandarin articulation has not been reported. This study compared the tongue function outcome obtained using two methods of tongue reconstruction, radial forearm free flap transfer and pectoralis major flap transfer.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with carcinoma of the tongue underwent tumor resection. The surgical defects were reconstructed using a pectoralis major flap in six patients and a radial forearm flap in 19 patients. Swallowing and speech function were evaluated 6 months to 5 years after the reconstruction. Speech intelligibility and a Mandarin articulation test were used to evaluate the articulation proficiency before and after surgery. Clinical evaluation of deglutition included a questionnaire on dietary habits and a swallowing rating of 1 to 7.

Results: Clinical evaluation showed that patients with free flap reconstruction had more intelligible speech (p = 0.014) even after total glossectomy. Assessment of data obtained by clinical questionnaire showed no significant difference between the two groups in swallowing function. Motility due to flap pliability increased speech intelligibility but had little effect on swallowing function.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that radial forearm flap transfer is better than pectoralis major flap transfer in preserving speech function and that there is no significant difference between the two methods of reconstruction in their impact on swallowing function.