Swallow physiology in patients with trach cuff inflated or deflated: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND Past research has suggested that medical diagnosis and trach cuff conditions may contribute to swallow physiology changes in patients with tracheostomy. This study attempts to investigate the differences in swallow physiology between patients with trach cuff-inflated and trach cuff-deflated conditions with respect to four medical diagnostic categories: neuromuscular disorder, head and neck cancer, respiratory diseases, and general medical diagnosis. METHODS Retrospective database analysis of videofluoroscopic study results in 623 patients with tracheostomies with trach cuff-inflated or cuff-deflated conditions. Swallow disorders were examined for each patient. RESULTS The frequencies of reduced laryngeal elevation and silent aspiration were found to be significantly higher in the cuff-inflated condition than the cuff-deflated condition. Significant swallow physiology changes were also found to be significantly different among various medical diagnostic categories. CONCLUSIONS It is important to evaluate changes in swallow physiology under both the trach cuff-inflated and cuff-deflated conditions to fully assess swallow function.