Edmonton company's new technology helps cancer patients who struggle to swallow
CBC
An Edmonton health tech company has developed a product to help those who struggle with swallowing, and the technology is already helping Alberta patients regain their ability to eat and drink.
For David Jamieson, the technology has been transformative.
Like many cancer patients, the 61-year-old Edmonton broadcaster struggles with dysphagia, the medical term for those who have difficulty with the act of eating and swallowing.
Jamieson was diagnosed with head and neck cancer about two years ago and underwent a six-week cancer treatment where doctors cut an opening from his ear to his neck on the left side of his face, and removed a three-centimetre tumour and other lymph nodes.
The doctors also removed what is called the base of the tongue. It is located in the back of the throat and pushes down food.
"Reactive swallowing for a human being is very complicated," Jamieson said.
"It's not something confined just to the throat, it involves neck muscles, shoulder muscles."
Edmonton company, True Angle, created a small device called Mobili-T, short for Mobile Therapist, to help patients with dysphagia keep up with their exercises.
Jana Rieger, CEO of True Angle, came up with the idea while working as a clinician scientist. She was working with patients who had head and neck cancer and they had trouble eating and swallowing as a result of treatment they were receiving.
"It's a very emotionally and physically taxing problem to have," Rieger told CBC's Edmonton AM.
After his treatment, Jamieson said he stopped eating in public and got most of his nourishment from fluids.
"If a piece of food is too big, I choke and I have choked. And it's frightening," he said.
Many of Rieger's patients told her they wouldn't have gone through with their cancer treatment if they had known they would have to live with dysphagia.
"It's terrible to hear, when you think about what food does for us as human beings, how much joy and pleasure it brings," Reiger said.