Abstract
We evaluated the indications for surgery for the improvement of deglutition from 37 patients with dysphagia, who had undergone surgical treatment, such as a cricopharyngeal myotomy, a laryngeal suspension, etc. In the cases involving a brain stem infarction, it was thought that those patients whose infarctions extended to the upper brainstem or to the corticobulber tracts, including the lower brainstem, were not candidates for these surgeries, because of the impaired initiation of pharyngeal swallowing. In addition, in cases of aspiration due to unilateral vocal cord paralysis, type 1 thyroplasty was considered to be less invasive, and more useful for protection against aspiration, and also for improving coughing efficiency due to the reinforcement of the glottic closure.
