Multidisciplinary Management of Swallowing Disorders
Everyone has trouble swallowing from time to time, such as
choking while eating or drinking. People with swallowing disorders (dysphagia) regularly
have difficulty swallowing, which can lead to choking, malnutrition, and other
problems.
Swallowing is a complex process, with many nerves working to
coordinate the muscles of the mouth, throat, and esophagus. A wide range of
conditions, illnesses, and their treatments can disrupt this process, causing
difficulty swallowing.
Serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond, our fellowship-trained
laryngologists (ear, nose, and throat doctors with specialized training in
disorders of the larynx) and speech-language pathologists have advanced
training and years of expertise in care for swallowing disorders. We quickly
determine the cause of the difficulty, and we often work with gastroenterologists
(specialists in digestive disorders) to coordinate care for our patients.
Causes of Swallowing Disorders
Dysphagia can result from a wide variety of problems, which
typically affect the esophagus differently from the mouth and throat. The
categories of swallowing disorders and their causes include:
Mouth and throat dysphagia
Esophageal dysphagia
- Achalasia,
when the lower esophageal sphincter (ring of muscle) doesn’t open properly
to pass food to the stomach
- Diffuse spasm, which is abnormal
spasms of the esophagus muscles
- Esophageal
cancer and radiation therapy to treat it
- Esophageal ring, an
abnormal ring of tissue that forms in the lower esophagus
- Esophageal structure
(narrowing), usually resulting from scar tissue caused by radiation,
chemicals, medicines, chronic swelling, ulcers, or infection
- Esophageal tumors, either
cancerous or noncancerous
- Gastroesophageal reflux
disease (GERD)
- Something stuck in the
esophagus, such as a piece of food
- Scleroderma,
a disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks tissue in the
esophagus
Symptoms of Swallowing Disorders
Signs and symptoms of dysphagia can include:
- Cough or gag reflex when
swallowing
- Food or stomach acid that backs
up into the throat
- Frequent heartburn
- Hoarseness
- Inability to swallow
- Pain while swallowing
- Regurgitation (food that
comes back up)
- Sensation of food stuck in
the throat or chest
- Unexplained weight loss