The incidence of tongue cancer is high, the disease develops rapidly, and lymph node metastasis is easy to occur in the later stages of the disease, and patients often have a poor prognosis, while early detection and early treatment are more effective. Surgery or surgery combined with chemoradiotherapy is the main means of treatment of tongue cancer, but in the process of surgical treatment, due to the particularity of the surgical site and the change of the oral structure of the operation, it is a common complication for patients to have difficulty swallowing after surgery.
Dysphagia can also be secondary to pulmonary infections and malnutrition, resulting in a decrease in quality of life. Therefore, the recovery of swallowing function is indispensable for the postoperative rehabilitation of cancer patients. Generally, patients are instructed to practice swallowing 2 weeks after surgery, generally electrical stimulation, direct swallowing difficulty treatment and compensatory training.
So what should we usually do to improve our swallowing ability?
1. Use a popsicle to coldly stimulate the soft palate, base of the tongue and the posterior wall, and then swallow in an empty mouth, 3 to 5 times a day for 5 minutes.
2. Raise the head of the bed 45° and sit in a half-seated position, use a tablespoon to send the food into the deep part of the mouth, and the patient will bring the food to the pharynx with his head back to avoid food leakage. Eat less and slowly at a time to avoid choking cough.
So, on the basis of the gradual recovery of tongue function, how to train?
Food can be placed on the healthy side of the tongue, slowly stirred with the remaining tongue, and the swallowing action can be exercised in steps. Use your tongue to deliver food to the pharynx before slowly swallowing it into the esophagus. Food should gradually transition from liquid to general food, avoid dry and hard food. To reduce choking cough, it should be done in small amounts and slowly, gradually forming habits. In patients with tongue cancer at the base of the tongue, the start of chewing training can be delayed to avoid pulling and infection of the root of the tongue.
Chewing function training is also very important, usually should choose soft, not easy to loose and easy to chew food, such as tofu, bananas, meat cakes, lotus flour, etc., avoid salt dried fish, fiber-rich potatoes, onions and other foods, avoid overheated food, gradually adapt to residual and flap tongue tissue activities, training during the amount of food from less to more, 3 to 5 times a day, the number of times gradually increased, until the chewing function is fully recovered.
The massage of the tongue body is also very important and requires the active cooperation of the family.
1. Massage the tongue from the inside out with your thumb in a circular manner, with moderate force of the normal tongue to feel tenderness, soften the scar, 8-10 times a day for 10 minutes.
2. 2 weeks after the removal of the graft flap suture and the healing of the incision, that is, 1 month after the operation, let the patient do the training of tongue forward extension, upmaring, lateral extension and downward extension, 3-5 times a day, 5 to 10 minutes each time.
3. Talk to the patient frequently to increase tongue activity and restore function as soon as possible. If you can't stretch your tongue on your own, you can gently pinch your tongue with a cleaning tissue or cloth and move up and down, left and right.
Note: When massaging the softened flap tongue, the action should not be rough, so as not to hinder the blood supply of the flap; when chewing and swallowing training, especially in patients with cancer at the root of the tongue, the flap tissue is deep, chewing should avoid foods with more fiber, swallowing should not be too early, so as to avoid excessive wound stretching and infection.
More oral cancer postoperative rehabilitation knowledge, welcome to pay attention!
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