Assessing Tongue Strength and Swallowing Function Following Hyoid Bone Resection Surgery

The tongue and hyoid bone are responsible for the oral phase of swallowing. The purpose of this study was to assess tongue strength and endurance, and to evaluate swallowing functions in patients who underwent hyoid bone resection surgery.

This was an experimental, non-randomized trial. It included participants who underwent hyoid bone resection surgery, divided into 2 groups; post-Sistrunk procedure and post-total laryngectomy. Swallowing problem history was recorded, and tongue strength and endurance were measured using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI). Post-Sistrunk procedure participants also underwent flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) to assess objective swallowing function. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to analyze the association between the tongue strength and endurance, and the type of surgeries.

The study involved 26 participants, including 16 males and 10 females, with a mean age of 58.4 ± 12.8 years. A total of 10 subjects underwent the Sistrunk procedure and 16 underwent total laryngectomy surgery. The average tongue strength of all participants was 40.8 ± 11.7 kPa and the average tongue endurance was 30.6 ± 13.2 s. The difference in average tongue strength between the post-Sistrunk procedure group and post-total laryngectomy group was not significantly different (37.5 ± 11.6 kPa vs. 44.1 ± 11.3kPa, P = .153). However, there was a statistically significant difference in average tongue strength between male and female participants (46.3 ± 10.0 kPa vs. 32.0 ± 8.5 kPa, P = .001). FEES did not reveal any evidence of objective swallowing abnormalities in the post-Sistrunk group.

The resection of the hyoid bone, whether partial or total, did not significantly affect tongue strength and swallowing functions.