Oropharyngeal swallowing disorder results from the disruption of the integrated mechanism of deglutition. This disruption occurs when the lower cranial nerves have been paralyzed due to a cerebrovascular accident or by a skull base lesion. In this article, we postoperatively evaluated the outcomes of 26 patients who had undergone surgical intervention for severe dysphagia caused by lower cranial nerve deficits. The ages of the patients ranged from 22 to 79 years, with an average of 58 years. Etiology of dysphagia consisted of cerebrovascular accidents in 14 cases, skull base lesions in 7, parapharyngeal space lesions in 2, and others in 3. Twenty-one patients had been entirely dependent on tube feeding or intravenous hyperalimentation preoperatively. The series of surgical procedures included cricopharyngeal myotomy (CPM) in 10 cases, CPM with laryngeal suspension (LS) in 6, CPM with vocal fold medialization (VFM) in 3, CPM with both LS and VFM in 6, and VFM in 1. Twenty-three patients (88%) had success in postoperative swallowing function improvement, and oral food intake was restored. Although structured swallowing rehabilitation is mandatory for patients with pharyngeal swallowing disorders, surgical strategies should be considered as a choice of treatment for patients with prolonged pharyngeal swallowing dysfunction.
