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Scar tissue in throat caused by radiation and chemo treatment

Posted by keith123 @keith123, Jan 22, 2019

Is there anything done to remove scar tissue so you can eat?

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Sep 30 7:30pm
In reply to @csdsgd "My husband had base of tongue surgery and radiation 20 years ago at UCLA and had..." + (show)
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My husband had base of tongue surgery and radiation 20 years ago at UCLA and had a Jtube for 4 months. It took about 2 years before he could eat “ok” . Cancer returned 2025 and he had surgery Base of tongue but it did not get all of it. He is currently on Keytruda.
The scar tissue is making his swallowing worse again but treatment at Fred Hutch Seattle and we are moving to AZ so changing to Mayo gives us great confidence…we had one meet and recommendations are already being made.
You most definitely have to travel to find the best care and research hospitals have saved my husbands life for sure…

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@csdsgd, good luck with the move to Arizona.

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omaest | @omaest | Oct 1 7:50am
In reply to @krisohlson "@yesmei123 I cannot swallow due to radiation. OHSU showed me the free floating bone that moves..." + (show)
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@yesmei123 I cannot swallow due to radiation. OHSU showed me the free floating bone that moves to close the airway when you swallow, was not moving during the swallowing study. Have you heard of this?

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@krisohlson I am experiencing this and now have a G-tube and am NPO - nothing by mouth. This is pretty common after effect of radiation treatment to any head, neck or throat cancer. The long term effects do not go away. As my ENT stated long ago, "Radiation, the gift that keeps on giving" Aspiration pneumonia is a big threat - I've been hospitalized for it twice.

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roblem | @roblem | Oct 1 1:44pm
In reply to @omaest "@krisohlson I am experiencing this and now have a G-tube and am NPO - nothing by..." + (show)
Profile picture for omaest @omaest

@krisohlson I am experiencing this and now have a G-tube and am NPO - nothing by mouth. This is pretty common after effect of radiation treatment to any head, neck or throat cancer. The long term effects do not go away. As my ENT stated long ago, "Radiation, the gift that keeps on giving" Aspiration pneumonia is a big threat - I've been hospitalized for it twice.

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Hi @omaest

I was diagnosed with Tongue cancer on my left side of my mouth on March 1, 2024, and had a left partial glossectomy with a radical forearm free flap surgery on April 3, 2024. It also included a modified radical neck dissection surgery taking out some lymph nodes. This one was most likely from too much radiation from my first cancer which was on my left tonsil (2008) as it is literally adjacent to it. You will also have to be very aware of the higher chances of getting aspiration pneumonia and lymphedema after these surgeries. My aspiration pneumonia came only 3 months after the surgery which was really bad as I had to go to the ICU and have 7 liters of infections fluid drained from my chest cavity over a period of seven days. I lost 15 lbs. of body weight from that, and I haven't been able to add it back on so far. I also suggest you get the pneumonia shot.

Since that time, I've hadn't had anything close to that, but most likely had some very minor ones which I think is a result from me making changes to my daily regimen and I am not on a feeding tube.

My question for you did you get any of your hospitalized aspiration pneumonias while being on a feeding tube? Or was this before that?

Thanks

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omaest | @omaest | Oct 1 7:29pm

Both before - The first in June of 2023 and the 2nd a year later in July of 2024. My main cancer Doctor had recommended in 2022 that I should get a feeding tube because I was loosing so much weight because chewing and swallowing was getting so difficult. When I could no longer swallow smoothies without coughing I realized something had to be done. It was at the end of my hospital stay in 2024 that I had the G-tube put in place.

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