When you have a problem with swallowing, the medical term for the condition is "dysphagia". The symptoms of dysphagia vary from occasionally being unable to swallow a larger morsel of foods or problems when you don't slow down and enjoy your food to extreme closing or weakness of the throat muscles. Severe cases can result in almost complete inability to get food or liquids from the mouth to the stomach. The doctor may prescribe a swallow study for dysphagia in order to accurately diagnose the location and extent of the problem.
Occasional swallowing problems may not require that any medical intervention be done. The problem can worsen as a person gets older, so that action must eventually be taken.
Symptoms of dysphagia range from occasional difficulty swallowing a large morsel of food to actual pain related to swallowing. Some patients complain of the feeling of having food stuck in the throat. Others may actually experience enough constriction in the throat that food is unable to move downward into the stomach. Some people experience acidic backup into the throat. It may be necessary to cut foods into smaller chunks for ease of moving food down the esophageal tube.
Dysphagia can be cause by any of several different conditions. Structures or partial blockage of the esophagus, achalasia and spasms, or a narrowing of the esophageal ring creates issues with swallowing. Many people suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly called GERD. In this condition, the esophagus becomes scarred due to the leakage of stomach acid into the esophagus. Radiation therapy, eosinophilic esophagitis and scleroderma are other common causes.
Several conditions are grouped as oropharyngeal dysphagia. The individual with these issues may experience choking, coughing or gagging on food when swallowing is attempted. In some instances, it feels as if liquids or foods have gone down the trachea. Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or muscular dystrophy are neurological disorders which cause the symptoms. They can also arise from a brain or spinal cord injury or from a stroke. A pouch can form and food is trapped there in a condition called pharyngeal diverticula.
There are several methods to use in diagnosing the location and severity of the condition. The doctor can use a flexible, thin lighted instrument (endoscope) down into your throat so a fiber-optic endoscopic evaluation (FEES) and a visual examination of the esophagus can be made. A manometry procedure require the insertion of a small tube to measure muscle pressure into the esophagus.
There are various imaging studies, ranging from x-rays to CT scans. Each of these involves the use of barium, either by drinking a solution containing barium or ingesting a pill coated with barium. A PET scan uses radioactive tracers and an MRI makes use of radio and magnetic forces.
The study which checks dynamic swallowing requires the subject to swallow barium coated foods in various consistencies. The images follow the path of the foods as they move through the mouth and down the throat. This set of images will point up issues in the way the muscles work when swallowing happens. The pictures will show instances where the food is traveling into the breathing tube rather than the stomach.
Occasional swallowing problems may not require that any medical intervention be done. The problem can worsen as a person gets older, so that action must eventually be taken.
Symptoms of dysphagia range from occasional difficulty swallowing a large morsel of food to actual pain related to swallowing. Some patients complain of the feeling of having food stuck in the throat. Others may actually experience enough constriction in the throat that food is unable to move downward into the stomach. Some people experience acidic backup into the throat. It may be necessary to cut foods into smaller chunks for ease of moving food down the esophageal tube.
Dysphagia can be cause by any of several different conditions. Structures or partial blockage of the esophagus, achalasia and spasms, or a narrowing of the esophageal ring creates issues with swallowing. Many people suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly called GERD. In this condition, the esophagus becomes scarred due to the leakage of stomach acid into the esophagus. Radiation therapy, eosinophilic esophagitis and scleroderma are other common causes.
Several conditions are grouped as oropharyngeal dysphagia. The individual with these issues may experience choking, coughing or gagging on food when swallowing is attempted. In some instances, it feels as if liquids or foods have gone down the trachea. Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or muscular dystrophy are neurological disorders which cause the symptoms. They can also arise from a brain or spinal cord injury or from a stroke. A pouch can form and food is trapped there in a condition called pharyngeal diverticula.
There are several methods to use in diagnosing the location and severity of the condition. The doctor can use a flexible, thin lighted instrument (endoscope) down into your throat so a fiber-optic endoscopic evaluation (FEES) and a visual examination of the esophagus can be made. A manometry procedure require the insertion of a small tube to measure muscle pressure into the esophagus.
There are various imaging studies, ranging from x-rays to CT scans. Each of these involves the use of barium, either by drinking a solution containing barium or ingesting a pill coated with barium. A PET scan uses radioactive tracers and an MRI makes use of radio and magnetic forces.
The study which checks dynamic swallowing requires the subject to swallow barium coated foods in various consistencies. The images follow the path of the foods as they move through the mouth and down the throat. This set of images will point up issues in the way the muscles work when swallowing happens. The pictures will show instances where the food is traveling into the breathing tube rather than the stomach.
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