You searched for "swallowing"
Resolving dysphagia – can we distinguish mild dysphagia from no dysphagia?
Many patients with dysphagia following neurological events can and do experience a resolution of their swallowing difficulties, sometimes without any intervention. However, it is challenging for clinicians to distinguish mild dysphagia from no dysphagia. The question of where to draw...
How do you solve a problem like Dysphagia?
When a patient is referred to a speech and language therapist for the management of swallowing difficulties, multiple options are available to address these issues. The choice is based on a detailed assessment of the patient’s swallowing physiology and function....
Impact of lingual pumping in Parkinson’s patients with dysphagia
Dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most important causes of mortality in these patients. Swallowing difficulty in Parkinson’s disease is associated with lingual pumping or festination, anterior escape, premature loss of bolus, oral and pharyngeal retention, multiple...
What can we tell about swallow physiology from a bedside clinical assessment?
Knowledge about swallowing physiology has greatly increased with the use of instrumental assessments such as videofluoroscopy (VFS). The authors of this paper performed an analysis of data obtained from 60 stroke patients who were assessed via a clinical swallow examination...
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...
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...
Swallow assessment: is clinical judgement or objective measurement more reliable?
Swallowing difficulties are life threatening and are the most common referral reason to speech and language therapists working with the adult population. Video fluoroscopic examination is a common instrumental tool used to assist in the assessment of the risk of...
Standardising videofluoroscopy assessment for bottle-fed babies
Swallowing problems in babies may occur for many reasons including complex medical problems, premature birth, and low birth-weight. Dysphagia causes several further morbidities such as poor nutrition and compromised respiration, often raising distress for both infants and their caregivers. Early...Dysphagia in complex laryngology – maintaining the balance
These authors from the speech and language therapy department at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, describe their view of a patient-centred approach to managing dysphagia in complex laryngology. Careful consideration of the balance of airway, voice and swallow, which is...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...
