Bengaluru based HCG, the specialist in cancer care, has officially started a speech & swallow lab, which is an integrated approach for the cancer patients for Head & Neck cancer. A total of Rs 1.3 crore has been invested in establishing this facility.

HCG had initiated the lab 2 years back with basic facilities but have now upgraded certain advance features over the last 2 months which is fully functional.

The lab comprises of technologies such as Studio kitchen, Taste analysis, Voice and swallow analytics. There is also presence techniques such as of Fiber optic Endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES), Video Fluoroscopic Swallow study (VFSS), Digital Cervical Auscultation, PRAAT software for acoustic analysis, Raven Pro software for visual feedback, Narrow Band Imaging – Olympus, Office Video Laryngoscopy, Assistive Swallow devices, Augmentative and alternative communication devices, Diet modifiers / Thickeners, and Low dose laser for mucositis

“We plan to start an international journal of speech and swallow. Currently our focus is to advance research in this area. We have 8 projects running in the department focusing on speech and swallow. We will be initiating a collaborative rehab program through the National Cancer Grid that will provide assistance to 140 cancer centers across India aimed to improve the quality of life of these patients. We will shortly be releasing HCG protocols aimed to benchmark national guidelines to direct forced rehab speech and swallow therapy for patients. A international fellowship in speech and swallow rehab is currently underway, using existing fellowship as a yardstick”, said Dr. BS Ajaikumar, Chairman & CEO, HCG enterprises Ltd