Validation of Instruments Used for Assessment of Dysphagia in Patients With Esophageal Cancer

In the present study, our aim was to firstly, validate 3 commonly used scales for use in patients with dysphagia due to malignancy, and secondly, to validate them in the Swedish language. The 3 scales were: The Watson dysphagia scale, which was developed in studies on surgical treatment of reflux disease. It consists of questions about food with 9 different viscosity and solidity and the patient answer if they have problems with a specific food: never, sometimes or always when ingesting this. The scores are added and provides a range of 0-45 where 45 is the worst possible dysphagia. The Ogilvie score is a 5-graded scale 0-4 where 4 is total inability to swallow. The Goldschmid score is graded from 0-5 where 0 is inability to swallow and 5 is normal function. QoL was measured with validated instruments originating from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), which has a generic instrument that measures global QoL in patients with cancer (QLQ-C30) and a more symptom-specific instrument that is developed for cancer in the oesophagus and stomach (QLQ-OG25). These are well known, validated instruments that also have normal reference values for the healthy population. The symptom specific instrument QLQ-OG25 includes a dysphagia module consisting of 3 questions which is validated to malignant disease and food intake with the help of expert groups and deep interviews with patients.

Inclusion criteria

• Cancer in the gastro-esophageal junction or in the esophagus
• Dysphagia
• Ability to fill in the questionnaires
• Written acceptance of the informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Not for-filling inclusion criteria
• No consent