OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of a protocol of concomitant intravenous hydroxyurea and hyperfractionated, accelerated, external-beam radiation therapy on the swallowing mechanism of patients with advanced-stage head and neck cancer. DESIGN Posttreatment videofluoroscopic swallow function studies, using images of single-bolus swallows of low-density liquid barium, were analyzed in real ...

Aspiration pneumonia is a major cause of death in the elderly. In this study, a water swallowing test was introduced as a method of evaluating the swallowing ability of patients, and a swallowing ability evaluation team investigated an appropriate procedure and evaluation method for the situation of our hospital. We also investigated the relationship between the swallowing ability of patients e...

BACKGROUND Respiratory involvement in neuromuscular disorders may contribute to impaired breathing-swallowing interactions, swallowing disorders and malnutrition. We investigated whether the use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) controlled by the patient could improve swallowing performances in a population of neuromuscular patients requiring daytime NIV. METHODS Ten neuromuscular patients wi...

Rationale: Swallowing during inspiration and swallowing immediately followed by inspiration increase the chances of aspiration and may cause disease exacerbation. However, the mechanisms by which such breathing-swallowing discoordination occurs are not well-understood. Objectives: We hypothesized that breathing-swallowing discoordination occurs when the timing of the swallow in the respiratory ...

The reliability of surface electromyographic (sEMG) variables during swallowing determines the potential usefulness of these measures in swallowing assessment and treatment. This study aimed to establish the reliability of the sEMG measures of the swallowing function of muscles during different swallowing conditions in healthy young and old volunteers. Two groups of volunteers (24 older adults,...

Objective To examine whether pharyngeal swallowing function is impaired in globus patients with swallowing difficulty by dynamic swallowing study. Methods Dynamic swallowing studies were performed on 80 normal adult volunteers and 33 globus patients with swallowing difficulty. Objective parameters such as maximum displacement of the hyoid bone, pharyngeal transit time, pharyngeal constriction...

BACKGROUND Laryngeal dysfunction in the oncology population is common and may detract from quality of life (QoL) due to vocal restriction and aspiration. Therapies to address this complex issue have not been explored to date. We examined the outcomes among oncology patients treated with a minimally invasive office-based surgical approach for the rehabilitation of laryngeal dysfunction. PATIEN...