ABCLOVE: Voice therapy outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer

• Published in: Head & neck Vol. 38; no. S1; pp. E1810 - E1813
• Main Authors: Ouyoung, Laishyang Melody, Swanson, Mark S., Villegas, Brenda Capobres, Damodar, Dhanur, Kokot, Niels, Sinha, Uttam K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-04-2016
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; dysphonia; Dysphonia - rehabilitation; Female; Head and Neck Neoplasms - complications; Humans; laryngeal manipulation; Male; Middle Aged; oral resonance; Phonation; radiation; Retrospective Studies; vocal function; vocal rehabilitation; Voice; Voice Quality; laryngeal manipulation; oral resonance; radiation; vocal function; vocal rehabilitation; dysphonia
• ISSN: 1043-3074; 1097-0347
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.24322

Background
Dysphonia related to head and neck cancer is unique, and demands treatment tailored to its unique pathology. Activate exercises, breathing, counseling, laryngeal manipulation, oral resonance, vocal exercises, and elimination of habits (ABCLOVE) is an 8‐week multimodality voice therapy program addressing vocal rehabilitation specifically for patients with head and neck cancer.
Methods
Twenty‐nine patients with a history of head and neck cancer were enrolled in the ABCLOVE program and outcomes were retrospectively reviewed. Relative average pertubation, maximum phonation time (MPT), pitch range, Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE‐V), and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) were assessed.
Results
The pretreatment and posttreatment improvements in the relative average pertubation (1.86 vs 0.92), MPT (10.53 seconds vs 15.17 seconds), VHI (51.7 vs 29.9), and pitch range (168 Hz vs 244 Hz) were statistically significant (p < .0001). The subjective CAPE‐V ratings improved in all but 2 patients.
Conclusion
The ABCLOVE voice program provides clinicians with an effective and reproducible method for voice rehabilitation in patients with head and neck cancer. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E1810–E1813, 2016