Utilization Of Ultrasound In Voice, Swallow And Laryngectomy Management

Head and Neck cancer patients suffer a wide variety of injuries to normal speech and swallowing as a result of their tumor and secondary to the types of treatment needed to treat the cancer. They often have lifelong deficits that can severely impact their quality of life.
The specialist who most often addresses these deficits at diagnosis, during treatment, and afterward, often for the duration of the patient's life is the Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP).
This presentation describes the state of the art of point-of-care ultrasound as it can apply to assessment and treatment of speech and swallowing disorders by SLP specialists. This exciting new field has been recently studied and described outside the United States in academic settings in Great Britain, and is nearly completely novel in the U.S.
The participant will benefit not only by learning of the latest and novel clinical applications of POCUS to a challenging patient population, but also learn of bringing POCUS to a specialty heretofore unfamiliar with using this valuable tool to augment and improve patient care.