• dysphagia
• RID
• FEES
• videofluoroscopy
• MDADI
• radioterapy
• head and neck cancer
• swallow
• life quality

In head and neck cancer (HNC) patients, radiation induced dysphagia (RID) is a very common side effect and has a significant impact on patient’s quality of life (QoF). The aim of this study is to evaluate the functional assessment of RID and correlation with perceived QoF. We evaluate a coort of 56 HNC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy on nasopharynx and oropharynx districts, between August 2015 and October 2021. All patients underwent to MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) test for the evaluation of swallowing related QoL, FEES and videofluoroscopy (VFS) at t0 (time 0), t6 (after 6 months) and t12 (after 12 month). MDADI test is a written, 20 item self-amministred questionnaire; we mainly use a summary score called composite (MDADI-C) at time 0, and then after 6 and 12 months after chemo-radiotherapy. We correlate the MDADI – C score at t0, t6 and t12 to the results of FEES and VFS at the same time and their variation during the study to establish a link between patient’s self-perception of dysphagia links and FEES or VFS. We find that FEES is probably linked with MDADI-C variation (even though this results is not statistically significative) whereas VFS does not.