We are pleased to announce that the ESSD Board has selected it’s first Best Paper Award Winner for the second quarter of 2026.
Congratulations to Jacintha Oldenbeuving for her paper:
Intensive swallowing rehabilitation for Head and Neck Cancer survivors with chronic dysphagia: outcomes from a prospective multicentre cohort study with 6-month follow-up, co-authored by van der Molen, L, PhD, Groothuis, JT, MD PhD, and Kalf, JG, PhD
The paper is available here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hed.70271
Why read this article?
Chronic dysphagia remains a significant challenge for a subgroup of head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors, often persisting years after treatment and profoundly affecting eating, social participation and quality of life. While several rehabilitation approaches exist, evidence for effective treatment in the chronic phase is limited, particularly regarding improvements in normalcy of diet, the aspect of dysphagia that patients themselves report as most problematic. In this prospective multicentre study, we evaluated a 3-week intensive swallowing rehabilitation (ISR) program tailored to HNC survivors with chronic dysphagia. ISR resulted in significant improvements in swallowing-related quality of life and normalcy of diet, with benefits that maintained or further enhanced at six-month follow-up. Importantly, participants were a median of four years post-treatment, suggesting that it is never too late to initiate such an intervention. By focusing on outcomes that matter most to patients and demonstrating benefit in a population that is traditionally considered difficult to rehabilitate, this work has the potential to influence clinical practice and reshape expectations for long-term dysphagia recovery.
This paper was selected from submissions received via the ESSD Members Research Archive during the second quarter of 2026. The ESSD Board thanks all contributors for the high-quality work submitted.
Members are warmly encouraged to continue submitting their research to the Members Research Archive for consideration in future editions of the Quarterly Best Paper Award.
More information is available here.
