Table 1.

Swallow therapy schedule as part of the swallowing preservation protocol.^a

Visit Number	First Visit	Second Visit until Completion of SPP	Posttreatment Visits	Posttreatment Visits (by 2 months up to 4 total visits)
Visit time	2 weeks before RT/CRT treatment	1 week after start of treatment (weekly)	1 month after RT/CRT treatment	2 months after RT/CRT treatment
Goals of visit	Swallow assessment, including diet recorded	Diet monitoring (encouragement of continued oral intake)	1 month posttreatment diet recorded	2 month posttreatment diet recorded by way of MBSS and swallow evaluations in clinic
	Treatment education (eg, expected side effects)/swallow program education	Compliance with exercises (based on competency level during first visit)/exercise education	Exercise education	Exercise education
	Dietician referral (patients who are noted to have weight loss)	Signs of malnutrition are reported to oncologist	Weight recorded	Weight recorded

Abbreviations: SPP, swallowing preservation protocol; MBSS, modified barium swallow study; RT/CRT, radiation/chemoradiation.

^aPatient’s weight, pain, compliance with swallow exercises, and diet were assessed at each follow-up period by the speech-language pathologist and recorded in the therapy progress notes.