You searched for "dysphagia"
Tricky post-laryngectomy swallows
Despite improvements in chemoradiation therapy and the adoption of organ preservation for some head and neck cancers, total laryngectomy remains the treatment often providing best survival chances for advanced laryngeal cancer. This article reviews the causes of dysphagia post-laryngectomy and...
What about the older adults?
The authors of this paper propose that significant changes in the delivery of services, including speech and language therapy management of swallowing difficulties, may be required. Among the most common causes of dysphagia in older adults are stroke, progressive neurological...
Swallowing their words: translating and adapting swallowing questionnaires to other languages
Dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) is increasingly relevant given the ageing population. Yet measuring or assessing dysphagia is challenging and often costly when exploring instrumental examination. The aim of this study was to translate and validate a patient-reported swallow questionnaire; the Sydney...
Videofluoroscopy: A Multidisciplinary Team Approach
This book places videofluoroscopy in the context of a broader, more holistic approach to the management of patients with dysphagia. It recognises that this is perhaps currently the best available tool to aid our understanding of the physiology of normal...
Do you use the evidence or do you just know to do that?
In this day and age we generally consider healthcare practice to be evidence-based. Unfortunately there are not always the plethora of research articles available that address the dilemmas of day-to-day clinical practice. This piece of work considers what factors influence...
Do nasogastric tubes affect aspiration risk?
A nasogastric tube (NGT) is frequently used for patients who are at risk of endotracheal aspiration of oral diet. However, this cannot eliminate the aspiration of saliva. The incidence of aspiration pneumonia in patients with NGT therefore remains high. Some...
What is the relationship between swallowing difficulties and underlying mental health issues?
People living with dysphagia often experience mental health difficulties. This study aimed to identify whether pre-existing anxiety and depression impacted patient scores on a patient-reported swallowing outcome measure, the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) where a score of ≥3 is indicative...
Globus, reflux or perhaps both?
We rarely do an ENT clinic without encountering a patient with persistent or recurring feeling of a lump or foreign body in the throat. We are also familiar with patients dreading to hear the C word after the endoscopic examination...
Swallow toxicity score (DIGEST) and its clinical utility in oncology practice
The Dynamic Imaging Grade of Swallowing Toxicity (DIGEST, graded from 0–4) was developed as a tool for clinicians to grade dysphagia from modified barium swallow studies (MBSS). The purpose is to provide a common terminology for adverse events of pharyngeal...
How common are swallowing problems in a general adult population?
This paper reports on the largest cross-continent study to date, looking at the prevalence of swallowing problems reported by adults in the community aged 18-65 years old. The authors used the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) distributed via an online survey...
Does the appearance, texture, and flavour of food affect how we swallow?
Texture modification and the use of thickened fluids are well-known strategies used to facilitate swallowing in people with dysphagia. However, some controversy exists around thickeners and their possible negative impact on hydration and medication absorption. This paper considers other properties...
