A Case of Dysphagia after Operation for Cervical Tumor : Expectoration Pools in the Hypopharynx and Development of Swallowing Function

Abstract

This study investigates the amount of liquid which a patient with dysphagia drinks, the time required to swallow it, the number of times she chokes on the liquid, and the number of expectorations pooled in the hypopharynx in one day. The subject was a woman aged 37 with dysphagia after operation for cervical tumor in the vagus. She was independent with respect to ADL except for deglutition. She came to eat orally by conservative therapy. We recorded the amount of liquid which she could drink, the number of expectorations of the liquid which remained in the hypopharynx after drinking until nothing was expectorated, and the number of times she choked on liquids in a day. The average amount of liquid intake per minute per day increased. The number of expectorations and choking incidents decreased. The increase in the average amount of liquid per minute correlated significantly with the decrease in the number of expectorations. The increase in the average amount of liquid intake per minute did not correlate with the decrease in the number of choking incidents. These findings suggest that the number of expectorations is an indicator of development of swallowing function.