Abstract
Patients with dysphagia often aspirate food and thickeners or gelling agents are, therefore, used in foods for dysphagic patients. To determine the appropriate properties as foods for dysphagic patients, however, it is important to know quantitatively the flow aspects of the bolus in the pharynx. The ultrasonic pulse-Doppler method is safer for the human body than the well-known Videofluorography (VF) and is useful to obtain the velocity distribution of the bolus through the pharynx. The maximum velocity, Vmax of water, which is often aspirated into trachea of patients with dysphagia, was about 3 times higher than that of yogurt, which is rarely aspirated. Thus, the risk of aspiration for patients with dysphagia can be predicted from the value of Vmax.
