[Echography of the oral phase of deglutition].

Neither cineradiography nor videorecording are satisfactory techniques for the dynamic study of the oral phase of deglutition. Therefore, oral swallowing was studied by means of real-time sonography (US) in 20 asymptomatic patients. Both anatomy and motility of the muscles of the mouth and tongue were clearly demonstrated. Real-time US proved thus to allow an accurate and dynamic visualization of the oral phase of deglutition.