抄録
This report deals with three cases of respiratory complications which were brought on by chronic aspiration in elderly patients with spinal cord injuries. Dysphagia is not usually found in cervical spinal cord injuries. But in three cases of spinal cord injuries who suffered from atelctasis of the lung and pneumonia, miss swallowing of saliva and dysphagia were proved. These patients were older than sixty years. The first case was a 62-year-old male with C5-6 injury. He was once tracheostomized in acute phase because of athlectic lung which was recurred after the stoma was closed. He was tracheostomized again and tracheal cannula was placed. After his admission to our hospital, button type cannula with speech bulb was inserted in his stoma to maintain phonation, but speech bulb was taken out be cause of dyspnea. The saliva was endoscopicaly ovserved to enter trachea.
The second case was a 64-year-old male with C3-4 injury, who frequently had athlectasis of the lung and pneumonia. Miss swallowing of saliva was endoscopicaly found and he was tracheostomized. The esophagogram did not show any abnomalities. The third case was a 62-year-old male with C3-4 injury who had lung tuberculosis in the past. Chronic aspiration was proved by methylen blue dye test. He was tracheostomized, but died of pneumonia. Conclusion: The respiratory complication was brought on by chronic aspiration of saliva in the eldely patients with spinal cord injuries.
