Hello! First post on here. Here is a summary of my background:

Carl completed chemoradiation therapy for a T3, N1 right base of tongue squamous cell carcinoma on 08/25/2014. He was treated with HD cisplatin and XRT.

SLP:
When muscles in our throat have radiation, the radiation causes scarring (also called fibrosis) to build in the muscles over time. This continues to happen for the rest of a person's life, long after their radiation treatment is done. The more scarring that occurs, the weaker the muscles get. This is why swallowing gets worse over time for someone who has had head and neck radiation.

Your swallowing muscles are very, very weak and stiff so when you try to swallow they can't push the food into the esophagus. It gets stuck in your throat and then goes down the airway. The airway is essentially "the path of least resistance".

Current prognosis:
Your problem is with the muscles above in your throat. Your issue is with the muscles at the back of your tongue and the muscles in your throat. They do not move well and do not have much strength due to radiation induced fibrosis. Unfortunately, there is not a surgery or a medication to fix these muscles as we talked about when we saw each other in person.

I am stuck on a g tube now 100%. Was told to avoid food and drinks by mouth due to aspiration risk.

Does anyone else have this condition and has anyone had any luck with a procedure to fix this?