Distinct Dysphagia Profiles in Patients With Oral Cancer After Surgery

Extensive evidence exists that patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), including oral cancer, experience multiple local, systemic, and psychological symptoms across the cancer trajectory (Murphy et al., 2019; Muthu et al., 2018; Speksnijder et al., 2021; Townes et al., 2020). Some of these symptoms can continue even after surgical resection of a tumor (Crowder et al., 2018) and occur together as symptom clusters (SCs). SCs have been found to have synergistic effects on patient outcomes (Oh et al., 2019), signifying the need for advanced SC research in cancer.