補綴装置を用いた摂食・嚥下リハビリテーションが奏功した重症筋無力症症例

抄録

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease and may cause fatigue of the skeletal muscles and loss of muscle strength. The weakness of lingual, facial, or pharyngeal muscles may cause dysphagia. In the present case, we applied a palatal lift prosthesis with palatal augmentation to a 43-year-old female myasthenia gravis patient who had dysphagia with velopharyngeal incompetence and tongue atrophia. As a result, the dysarthria with nasality and dysphagia with residue at the hypo-pharynx were improved. In general, a palatal lift prosthesis is effective for dysarthria with velopharyngeal incompetence, while it does not improve the swallowing dysfunction. In this case, the augmented form of the polished surface of the prosthesis compensated for weak intraoral pressure. This report suggested the effectiveness and limitations of a palatal lift prosthesis with palatal augmentation for neuromuscular diseases.