You searched for "dysphagia"

226 results found

A mouth-rinse test that can screen for oral cancer?

This paper presents a promising screening tool for oral cancer – using a simple chlorhexidine mouth-rinse. The hypermethylated ZNF582 and PAX1 markers were chosen based on previous studies using oral scraping methods of collection and have been shown to be...

Botulinum toxin injection in spasmodic dysphonia

Spasmodic dysphonia is a rare neurological voice disorder, which is often missed by the inexperienced ear. There is no laboratory test or investigation to diagnose this condition therefore, it is best diagnosed by listening to the patient’s voice. Laryngeal endoscopy...

Motor learning: better knowing how, not how well

Motor learning is described as the ability to perform a motor skill due to practice and/or experience. Research on interventions to enhance limb motor skills can be influenced through the amount, distribution, variability and schedule of practice as well as...

Clinical Esophagology and Transnasal Esophagoscopy

This textbook starts by giving a background to esophageal anatomy, physiology and non-invasive tests, an area that is often overlooked and not considered in detail in other texts read by ENT surgeons. Transnasal esophagoscopy is a comparatively new domain for...

Post-thyroidectomy vocal cord palsy: are there long-term sequelae?

This is a well written paper utilising the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset for all thyroidectomies performed in England between 2004 and 2012. The study had a very impressive 43,515 participants and only included young, fit patients undergoing thyroidectomy once for...

Everyone has the right to say no

Despite the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act in 2005, healthcare professionals remain uncomfortable with individuals who choose not to follow medical advice - who make informed decisions to decline a treatment or management plans. This paper highlights that speech...

Mental practice could be a great COVID-19 solution for delivering swallow rehab

Motor imagery is defined as the process of voluntarily generating a mental image of a motor function without actually doing said function. Mental practice (MP) is the process of doing this repeatedly; practising it. There is some evidence that this...

Cuff up or cuff down; to occlude or not to occlude? What effect does tracheostomy tube modification have on swallowing outcomes?

Dysphagia is commonly seen in patients with tracheostomy. The current global pandemic has increased interest in the impact of a tracheostomy on swallowing outcomes. This systematic review is therefore a timely addition to the literature and a useful read for...

Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies: balancing risks and benefits

Videofluoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS) are an important part of the diagnostic toolkit and arguably the current gold-standard for assessing swallow biomechanics and diagnosing dysphagia. However, the procedure does involve exposure to radiation, and any clinician requesting this should be able...

Old age is hard to swallow

This article takes us through the diagnosis and management of swallowing problems common in older age. As our global population continues to grow and live longer, dysphagia will continue to be a global problem which needs to be recognised, understood...

BLA Position Statement - Interview with Mark Watson

Author and interviewer: Stefan Linton, ENT Registrar, Manchester Royal Infirmary. We caught up with Mark Watson, President of the British Laryngology Association, to find out his thoughts on the BLA’s position statement on the use of Gardasil vaccination in the...

Your voice and your personality

Variations of vocal effort are a normal adaptation to difficult communication situations. However, persistence of these abnormal strategies can lead to various functional dysphonias. In this experiment, the authors tested 41 females aged 18-52. The subjects were asked to instruct...